


Turning the Tide

by NotMemorable



Category: Naruto
Genre: A bit of drama, Better Trained Naruto, Canon Divergence, Complex Political Landscape, Complicated Naruto-Kurama Relationship, Conflict in the Horizon, Conflicted Naruto, Danzo Shimura - Freeform, Developing Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Hiruzen Sarutobi's Reign Legacy, Jinchuriki - Freeform, Original Character(s), Sexual Content, Starts a Year into Naruto’s Training Trip, Uzushiogakure no Sato
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:47:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 159,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25517506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotMemorable/pseuds/NotMemorable
Summary: They say it’s always darkest before dawn. But what would happen if that occurrence wasn’t to follow its recurrent script in a putrid and resentment filled shinobi world? Under the stompings and ill desires of powerful foes that little could many do to stop. In this aforementioned world, see Naruto try, under a new main dream, goal. Knowing that he was to grow up at some level if he was going to live up to his ideals. If he was to survive the times that were heading their way and not lose everyone he cared for, those whom he called “close” and would do anything for. Knowledgeable of many truths, the vital ones that were kept from him, and those of the evils that lurk, even within his own borders, and the consequences of their actions. See Naruto tirelessly train and fight, alongside new companions, to help for that dawn to arrive.These characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. A Simple Errand in Shimogakure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, these characters and this world belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

"¿What do I have to do for you to cut your hair once in for all?" Asked a hoarse and tired voice, desperately.

"Nothing, you honestly can't say anything that will change my mind." Looking sideways to the questioner, glancing at his seemly planning face, the responder threatened beforehand. "What I grant you, though, is that if you dare to do it while I'm sleeping, I will release it. I'm not bluffing," Answered the youngling, threatening at the mere possibility.

"You know I am not joking when I say that it is an issue of world peace, right? Peace or tranquility, whatever you want to call it. The mere thought of what would happen if they realize who you are. Your lineage." There wasn't any joking tone or mimicking behind the man's words. Showcasing that this wasn't a laughing matter in his eyes.

"I just think you are overreacting. If they haven't noticed yet is solely because they didn't want to. Wouldn't attempt to get past it. It will be quite miraculous that they will notice now," The boy stopped for a second, turned to a mirror, and after the confirmation of what he had already established in his mind, resume speaking. "I am not trying to emulate him in every way. Having said that, and with the idea in mind that they served us the same hand, type of hair rather, I concur that this is how to wear it best."

"You are talking about our villagers. The point is that those who do not, begging they might not, have to know are primarily the shinobis from other villages, mainly one of the big five. And in case you haven't noticed, we are very close to the frontier of one of them."

The most experienced figure had to confess to being a bit anxious, not in a good way. It was just a year ago since the two of them left on their temporary journey together. Leaving the village the boy had not been absent from for more than a month in his brief lifetime.

What a year it turned out to be. Not that it was productive, or solely, which was a pleasant and predictable surprise, but the waves of emotions that both encounter and suffered. So visceral, around themes of great importance, some round necessary confessions. For the sake of maturing to face what was coming.

Hidden all year in a place nothing short of particular. Someone could venture to brand it magical, even. Not a hint of danger wherever they looked. It was the perfect place. Why not stay there? Honestly, because they both needed it for they couldn't take more of it.

The concern now revolved around how to go as unnoticed as possible on a land foreign to them, bordering an ancient foe. This place was supposedly amicable, yet it had its dangers.

Very curious land this was, with eyes lurking everywhere they could, in search of any peculiarity that could be suspicious, with coded ears to get any name or any location of interest, and with a non-functional or non-existent sense of smell, given how in this place if your nose wasn't frozen or snot-filled because of the cold, it was completely invaded by the exacerbated smell of insane amounts of incense and candles that made of every stink almost untraceable.

It was a brief stop along their journey, this and a couple of other places, and they would leave for a destination even more remote than the previous one. They just had to avoid being recognized while strolling through…

"Jiraiya-Sama!" A voice emphatically approaches them, yet its owner unseeable among the crowd of the town market.

Surprisingly, Jiraiya turned in the direction from which that high-pitched voice came. Cursing in his head that they had been recognized. With their looks hard not to. 'You just have to say in your head that you don't want something to happen for it to happen seconds after,' thought Jiraiya.

Despite having already turned at the mention of his name, getting himself caught, Jiraiya goes with the first elaborated plan that comes through his mind, giving how not responding now would be stupid.

"Jiraiya of the Legendary Sanin, where?" Jiraiya almost screams, attempting to turn red as if blushing, trying to pretend to be a fan of this mythical figure and his alleged career.

Naruto looked at his teacher and couldn't help but frown. Wondering what the hell he was doing and calling him an idiot a few times in his head. What sense did it make pretending to be clueless when all his characteristics made him as distinctive and easily recognizable as he was? From his wardrobe, that crazy white mane, and his stature.

"It ain't you, sir? Oh sorry, excuse me, I must have confused you for someone else." Said the young man who just called him.

Jiraiya smiled, self-pleased, and ignorant of the boy's sarcasm. Naruto, however, did not follow his teacher, who had picked up the pace as he started leaving the market, believing he had gotten out of this. On the boy's face, Naruto saw disbelief at the Sanin's ignorance.

Before the white-haired man went a step further, he signaled for Naruto to accompany him. In response, Naruto only held up a finger, notifying Jiraiya to turn around and look in the direction he was walking. When Jiraiya did, he saw two undaunted figures waiting for him. Two shinobis from the village of Shimokagure, the village where they were.

'Goddammit.' Thought Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-San, if you were so kind, Lady Kirana has requested your presence and that of your companion," One of the shinobi added.

Jiraiya knew that this "if you were so kind" was an imperative claim rather than a request. No matter how he felt towards doing so, he had to do so. Resigning and cursing in his head, Jiraiya did what he only could.

He nodded. Confirming that he would follow, his compliancy hinting that they would not cause a stir.

"What's going on?" Asked Naruto to the shinobi that guided them as they escaped the crowdedness of the market, not upset or anxious.

"It is not every day that a leaf shinobi passes through our village, much less one of the Sanin," The shinobi stopped speaking succinctly to remember. "If it weren't for diplomats and those who guard them, I wouldn't think a single one of your ninjas would have come by. Not since the war, I think."

"War?" Asked Naruto. He had studied them all recently. He was trying to recall if there was a chapter where this village was ever mentioned.

"During the Third Shinobi War, we faced Kumogakure among others," As soon as Jiraiya mentioned the place and the conflict, images, and stories appeared in the mind of a now knowing Naruto. Cognizant of who took part and who stood out in it. "As you may as well know, the Land of Lightning it's a peninsula and where we stand, the Land of Frost is its isthmus. Meaning that to reach Kumo by land, we had by necessity to send some troops through here."

"With eventual conflicts and battles that erupted here and there. Us being trapped and with no voice in them," Said Kazesuda, the young man who first reached them by calling Jiraiya, with his monothematic condescending tone.

They all turned to look at him. He had broken that artificial halo of tranquility that surrounded their conversation.

"Kazesuda!" One of what ought to be his superiors shouted.

"What? I only say it to add truthfulness and punctuality to the story, nothing more" Claimed Kazesuda, not bothered by the looks, rather inviting the conflict. The word jackass rather than smartass ran through the head of one of his superiors.

"Indeed, as Kazesuda here claims, we fought a few battles in this country. It would be insulting to say that they were collateral damages of the war. In our path, we razed houses and provisions that we later tried to amend. We provided shelter on our borders for those who asked for aid, the ones who take the worse tool of the conflict." Jiraiya explained, embodying the narrative.

Naruto's head was already wrapped around the principle that war was a horrid thing, something to elude when allowed rather than invite. The history of his clan, of his home village... It had a stamp of blood. The toxicity that it secreted and the pain that was permeated in all who had lived it, in scarred blood, or lived its consequences, was ominous. He had no divinized idea of it. Looking at the boy, this Kazesuda brat, Naruto could see in his face resentment, rancor, and a posthumous desire to thank Jiraiya for the generosity of Konoha after the irreversible pain they caused.

Right now the question of which side they joined or if they somehow remained neutral didn't even come to his mind. It was not the time.

* * *

The world seems to believe, since the dawn of time, that there are only five Kages, or at least five with enough power or abilities worth of such a title, worth remembering. Names like Hanzō been exceptions.

Kodame Kirana, the Shimogakure Kage, had long shone away from focusing on those chauvinistic trivial themes. The only thing she now cared for was knowing the reason behind the recent appearance of shinobis from other villages in the land she vowed to protect.

She could not conceive a scenario where profiles of such renowned ilk and name appearing at the same time was out of a coincidence. By no means was she going to sit idly by, at the mercy of the will of both sides.

She knew that because of the weakness of her village she was to not fall into the bad side of either of them. Nor did she have power in diplomacy to ask for equal treatment, nor could her village survive the childish wrath of one of the great five, not even Suna.

That didn't mean letting them roam free, though. She was set on erasing the bewilderment that roamed in her mind.

Looking out the window, she could spot three of her shinobi accompanying a tall man, with such distinguishable and unique features that he unequivocally had to be the Sanin, and to his right a long-haired blonde boy with hair that fell widely down the sides of his face, in front of his ears.

Turning back, she approached her paperwork filled mess of a table. She placed her things with enough decorum for it to be presentable. Just as she was about to store out of sight a classified document, a sensation... A sudden awareness that led her to be silent, being utterly astonished by what she just encountered when focusing on sensing it.

Kodame had been at rallies with kages, figures of overwhelming power, and chakra capacities, however, and for the second time in the same week, she felt an inexorable amount of it, unquantifiable even. More puzzling and fear-inducing than what those glorified figures had. If it surprised her the first time, this one the dread came from the established idea that she would not feel such power in what remained of her lifetime, yet here she was at the same week with the same dumbfounded expression.

Being a sensor type, her surprise rose as the figures approached and entered her radar, where her abilities were enhanced. To think that Jiraiya of the Sannin had this power... Not only that, but the fact that his companion had that capacity despite being so young. His signature was more typical of a kage or a high-ranking officer than a child... The question that came to her mind is, "What the hell was going on?"

"Kodame-Sama, they have arrived with the Leaf shinobis. Shall I let them pass?" One of his guards said.

"Go ahead" Kodame replied promptly.

Upon entering, a sense of surprise took over the room.

Jiraiya and Naruto, on one hand, were astounded, knowing previously nothing of this Kage. The least they expected was to catch sight of a brown-haired woman with pale skin who appeared to be in her thirties. If she even reached them. A voluptuous and muscular figure, clothed with more pragmatism than styling, with shades of white, the homogeneous color that reigns in her clothing. Jiraiya, aware that his current position may as well be one better attributed to diplomats, prematurely banished any rude comments from his mind. Naruto, engrossed, grew quickly respectful of a person who at such a young age had achieved so much.

Kodame got up to shake hands with the visitors, already proving to be closer and more candid than the other Kages. Even though a mere blissful smile lay on her face, her surprise and disbelief grew uncontrollably in a matter of seconds. In her head, a cry of confusion at something so ungraspable.

'That power came from the boy. Impossible!' Kodame looked at the blonde, without showing surprise. Who the hell can have that power at such a young age? She felt two sources of energy in the boy, two songs and even two verdicts of the world, one much more cheerful than the other. They were almost antagonistic.

"What can we help you with, Kodame-Sama?" Jiraiya asked.

"I'll be direct, don't you think?" Both nodded to the Kage "I would like to know what you two are doing in my village. Why one of the Sanin embarked, I repeat, embarked, did not come on foot, to our southern shores. What is the aim of your visit and what will be the duration of your stay?"

"You see ..." Before Jiraiya said another word, Kodame cut him off, having felt not only the fluctuation in Jiraiya's chakra, but the eloquent tone of one who tells a dream-like story rather than the events that brought on this situation.

"Don't try to fool me Jiraiya-san, I can be very incisive and I know perfectly when I'm been taken for a fool," Respectfully and cordially stated Kodame, or as capable as possible when saying those words.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and rummaged through his pockets for a wrapper, pulling a sheet out of it. Stretching his arm, he put it on the table. Kodame looked at the paper, in it a symbol or rather a signature, a signature that she already knew well.

'They also come for the same thing.' Kodame thought. 'That fucking fool. Who does that?'

"Shimokage-sama, we found this symbol on the handles of certain artifacts, weapons, mainly a sword we took from the corpse of one assassin. We have evidence of them in more than just a casual killing. Used too to destroy one post within our border. We logically specified that it was the signature of a sword master, a blacksmith with residence here. Presently, it's the only trace that we have on the perpetrators of those acts." Jiraiya confessed.

"Do you think we are involved in this?" Kodame asked without predilection about what they were about to answer.

"With all due respect, we did not eradicate that option. However, if so, it would prove excessively reckless. It is a very remote option. Our initial intention is to know who had bought them." Jiraiya said.

"Considering that this refers to a citizen of my village whom you would have questioned without even informing me, honestly, under what authority and law would you have done it?" Kodame asked for the second time in the same week, fed up with the arrogance of the great villages.

"We hoped it would not have to come to that. I reiterate that we started with the conception that the blacksmith is only responsible for the construction and sale of weapons. Underlying all these acts, we believe it more appropriate to attribute it to another actor," Jiraiya answered honestly.

"And having come," prompted the Shimokage.

"We would have done our best to keep things from escalating," Jiraiya said, again being sincere. He wanted to show the Shimokage that their intentions were not malicious. "As you have probably guessed we are not even a team, we are here for a last-minute plea to which we responded rather by our proximity than our capacity to deal with this matter. Our stay, if everything goes according to the established, will be brief."

The Shimokage propped her elbows on the table, and her face on her entwined hands, pondering.

Right now her nation was involved in a gruesome plot involving nations that she did not want to have dealings with. Much less a deal in which they had to be defending themselves from charges that could lead to war. Sigh, she preferred to leave this in the hands of the leaf than in that of her neighbors.

"Okay." With her hand, she motioned for one of his Jonin to accompany them to the inn where the blacksmith worked. "Jiraiya-San, you must know that you are not the only ones who have come here in search of the same thing. There is a team of Kumokagure in the village, they arrived two days ago and they have not left since."

"Why tell us?" Naruto asked

"For two reasons. One is that despite my general contempt for the pride and arrogance of all the five villas, it is Kumo for which my nation feels more animosity. The other reason is that I want this problem of international dimensions solved before it wreaks havoc on my villa."

"Thank you very much Shimokage-Sama, with your permission we will withdraw. We will do our best not to cause any problems." Jiraiya concluded, indicating Naruto with his head to get up and follow him.

"One more thing Sannin," Jiraiya turned to look at her face again as she spoke. Expectant. To his surprise, the woman had her gaze solely on Naruto. "I'm not the only sensor currently in this village," Konade finished without looking away from the now uncomfortable blonde.

It startled Jiraiya to find out about that. The concern that he previously felt reappeared. Nodding, he silently appreciated the warning and left the room. Naruto noticed his teacher's change of demeanor. It didn't take long for him to ask. As soon as they went out, following the guide that had been assigned to them.

"What is a sensor?" Naruto asked.

"Shinobis with an ability that few in the world have truly developed, or can even develop. In some it is just a marginal capability. I would venture to say that the number of truly capable sensors outside of a few clans is countable with my two hands. Your father was one of them." Jiraiya said, still somewhat surprised. "While we are all capable of feeling an immense chakra, sensors can sense and discern the chakra of their targets with precision and at a great distance without it needing to be Jonin-like, even in non-combat situations. Abilities vary. Imagine your friend Kiba's sense of smell, only complexed and applied only to Chakra." As Jiraiya spoke, Naruto realized the reason for the concern.

"So they can sense the Kyūbi's chakra by just being in the same town," exclaimed Naruto.

"Exactly. No matter how good the seal, it's impossible to completely hide a bijū's chakra. Also, she has confessed to us that the sensor comes with them," Jiraiya thought about it "Things gets complicated. We are going to do one thing." Jiraiya carefully explained. "We will try to find who bought those weapons as quickly as possible and we will leave. I very much doubt that they will not discover us if they haven't already done it. The good thing about them stopping us is that there is a testimony that we had been here. If it occurred to them to attack us, it would not take long to start a war. I do not think they are interested, but we will not give them the opportunity. Oh, and do me one favor, don't use the Rasengan no matter what." Naruto nodded.

While Naruto enjoyed nature, the tundra of this place, Jiraiya did nothing but look ahead. It was not long before they saw the inn, separated from the urban nucleus.

 **"Interesting"** A silent yet scary voice sounded.

* * *

"What's wrong, Shī? Did you feel something?" The squad leader asked when he saw the boy's eyes almost explode out of their sockets. His quick change of demeanor five seconds in his meditation and given his composed self worrying.

 **"He is not the only one who has felt it,"** said a powerful, feminine voice. **"He's here."**

"Who is here?" Asks another hardened voice, that of none other than Yugito Nii. A dark-eyed, blonde woman, well known as a Jōnin of Kumogakure.

"I just sensed the chakra of two shinobi. They are humongous!" Shī said, having no clue to estimate them.

"What are we talking about here?" Hishida wondered.

"This ... I ... I wouldn't know how to put it" Shī hesitated, did not want to say out loud what was going through his head. It was laughable and would only provoke disbelief and mockery. "I have felt nothing like it. It's beyond Yugito-san's and Bee-Sama's capacity."

Yugito turned away from the now incredulous group to ask a voice that inhabited her mind. Her inner beast seemly knowing what was happening and who that subject was. While she was doing this, her companions could not avoid expressing to Shi that he was wrong. Ridiculing his statement despite no previous failures when assessing the situation.

"Matatabi answer. Who is here?" Yugito asked, expecting a concise answer.

 **"Kurama. The Nine-Tailed Fox,"** Confessed Matatabi.

Yugito did not know what to answer. What to do after. She had barely met three of her condition and right now within her reach was the supposedly most powerful of them all. Another jinchūriki.

Fleetingly in her head came a thought.

She wanted to meet him.

Turning around, she approached the group. Shī was still defending his words and that ephemeral stimulus before the deaf ears of his companions. Without raising her voice and placing herself right in the middle, Yugito interrupted the discussion and took the title of the issuer in the conversation.

"Shī is not crazy, he has not gone mental. The Kyūbi is here, there is no doubt about it, Nibi has confessed it to me. It has to be the Leaf," Yugito solemnly proclaimed.

They all fell into a state of amazement. Hishida Hone, the team leader, reminiscent. Her team continuing their banter in his seconds of silence when thinking.

"What now?"

"What are you looking at me for? I don't know the answer".

Hishida intervened.

"The reports said that the jinchūriki was a young boy, he must be between 12 and 15 years old now. I do not think he is a danger to us considering that it is impossible for him to control the powers of his bijū at such a young age," Hishida declared. "Do not attempt anything without my order. I have an idea who accompanies him. If the actual little information we have is accurate, he will be with Jiraiya, one of the Sanin."

Yugito cursed, she knew he didn't say danger because of the boy being a jinchūriki, at least not necessarily, but him a Leaf ninja, but that his condition almost immediately meant doom, danger, destruction, an incitement to control of that disembodied force, caused her a burning sensation. Her gaze, even as invariable as it seemed, did not go unnoticed for who has been since she was very young her sensei.

"We are not here for sentimental meetings, Yugito. You should not believe for a second that he is an ally or a potential friend. Our orders are clear, given the rejection of the blacksmith to answer any of our questions and having no jurisdiction, we must wait till the Shimokage forces him to so we can get a name from his registry. We are to let politics do their job for once and expect that under the clear value and proof, she will do that. Till then remained focus and together. Am I clear?" Few nodded once Hishida made his comments.

"Yes, taicho."

"Wait for politics, just perfect. By the time the order arrives, and she concedes, a couple more accidents will happen. Who knows, maybe then this proof will count for nothing." Said Yugito, having disdain for that course of action.

"Shall we follow them?" Asked the fourth and last member of this team.

Hishida queried, looking to the team's sensor…

"Shī, do you know where are they going?" Hishida asked.

"To the northwest, they are heading to..." Shī postulated before being interrupted.

"You were saying?" Asked Yugito, looking distinctly to his sensei.

"Alright, forget everything I just said, they have given us an answer. Let's head there, with caution," Advised Hishida.

* * *

"Here it is. Follow my lead. Let me speak first. If your Kumo friends are still here, it's because he didn't even bother to speak to them. There was a time when he brandished one of his menacing swords at them...So then..." Argued eloquently the Jonin near the door.

"Got it. Naruto, do you know what to do?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto joined his hands and performed the first jutsu he had ever learned.

After making 4 carbon copies of himself, in the blink of an eye, they all disappeared in the brush after a single jump. The Jonin who was accompanying them looked incredulous. It again forced Jiraiya to confess what Naruto was doing, securing the perimeter; so that the Jonin did not feel threatened.

"Better be safe than sorry. We do not know what's going on, they will watch over us," Jiraiya confessed.

Reluctantly, the Jonin accepted his explanation and knocked on the door with force and gradual repetitions given the non-response. 5 minutes later, after shouting that they were coming by orders from the Kage, the blacksmith opened with a less than pleased expression.

With suspicion he invites them to pass, glad at least that they were not from Kumo. He had nothing against the Leaf, for now at least.

"What in God's name do you people want?" Asked the blacksmith, obfuscated not only by the recent attention but also by the sweat that ran north on his face, resulting from the heat of the casting he was practicing until they knocked. Passing a towel through his face.

"Is this your signature?" Jiraiya asked, approaching the paper he had previously shown so the blacksmith could see it clearly.

"Yes." The sword master took less than a second to respond, obviously it was his signature. He cursed in his head for his need for recognition. Not all blacksmiths signed their works. He nevertheless signed all, not just katanas. "And what of it?"

"We can't just go in. She won't allow us," Shī crouched back. "There is another shinobi with them, it is likely to be from this village."

"Damn insidious bitch," Hishina said out loud. "The Shimokage is helping them!"

"Let's not venture to make judgments without evidence. She is a very conscious woman, I very much doubt that this is a plot against our village," Yugito said.

"Then explain it to me," Hishina spoke until Shī raised his hand, meaning for them to stop. "What do we have Shī?"

"Outside the house, there are 8 different sources," confessed Shī.

"Didn't you just said there were only three?" The other nameless figure asked him, nameless more for insignificance than occultism.

"4 of them are the same as the jinchūriki" Shī mentioned before Yugito's threatening gaze found her way to him, earned after saying that term. Shī's voice trembled a bit. Till now his attention was not on Yugito. After her threat, that changed. "They must be clones. The other four came out of nowhere, honestly. They are new and getting closer. Behind us."

"How closer?" As Yugito said that, an inordinate amount of kunais were approaching, aiming at them.

"Very!" I cry Shī as he dodged.

Out of nowhere 3 figures sprouted. Hooded. The question that the leader of the squadron had then, while everyone brandished their weapons and took a defensive stance, was where was the fourth figure.

A new round of kunais was approaching, Hishida quickly did the hand seals.

"Earth Style: Rock Shield."

Hishida raised the ground, literally. Covering enough to shield two of his shinobi.

Shī, however, was forced to dodge and abandon the formation. Unbeknown to them, two planned things happen. Discriminately, one of the enemies went straight ahead to Shī. The blond male grew scared given how nor kenjutsu or taijutsu were his strengths.

They split him from the group.

Shī's scare was ample enough that it wasn't till it was too late that he realized where the fourth was.

"Behind your back, in the tree!" Shī yelled as he classed his kunai against the enemy's sword.

"What?" Shouted in response Hishida, puzzled and looking to the sides of his created wall.

By the time they wanted to notice, behind them, the whistle of a sword sounded before contacting the meat, slicing it. Followed by the noise of someone drowning in his own blood.

And finally, the sound of a head falling to the ground before its innkeeper.

"Oh, shit!" said Yugito as she swiftly turn to face the shinobi who killed her friend.

They smashed Hishida's barrier with a single impact. Expectant of an attacker who was coming head on, it was a mere miracle embodied in Hishida's reflexes that he eluded an enemy that had surrounded them.

They were overcoming them. They were more coordinated that them, were beating him, and he was failing.

The only plan that Hishida's amidst battle could come up with was to attract two of them and thus relieve his team of pressure. Recklessly, he approached one of them, throwing his target to the ground.

Seeing that one of them came to the aid was a relief. Just when he went to take his enemy's life, a wind technique took him out of the immediate picture.

When they got up, whoever they were, they seemed undoubtedly focused on him.

'Come for me, come on!' Hishida screamed in his mind. When they recklessly ventured after him, he smiled. 'I have you.'

"Earth Release: Clay Barrier Prison" Out of nowhere a stone circle imprisoned the two members, who immediately tried to jump seeing that there was no roof. To their wonderment, they did not have the strength.

Hishida threw some kunais with explosives at them. By making contact, they did what they were designed for. Jumping, Hishida leaned on the circle, expecting to see the two dead shinobi in there. To his surprise, far from it, only emptiness.

"Clones, shit!" Before he even knew it.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Blast."

* * *

Naruto, rather a clone of Naruto, was resting on a branch when he heard a noise, preceding a light whisper of steel colliding with stone. Immediately he ventured to see what happened.

The sound grew as shinobi techniques were undoubtedly being deployed.

An explosion emerged, and the occasional flare. Creating another shadow clone, Naruto ordered the newly formed to undo himself so the original and the remaining clones on the field got the idea that there was trouble. In case that Jiraiya, somehow, didn't notice.

Meanwhile, the clone advanced. It wasn't long till he got to see a shinobi from Kumo, a blonde young man with a sleeveless attire, defending himself from a hooded figure. Seriously struggling. Almost by inertia, Naruto intervened in a battle in which he neither had a side nor a call.

Instinctively, he defended the one who did not have to mask his face. From branch to branch, Naruto quickened his pace. The other boy couldn't stand it anymore. Naruto saw him block his rival's sword but get propelled a few meters by a kick that he had not seen coming.

From the ground, the desperate boy, or man, did the only technique he seemed to have at hand. From his hands, a blinding light shone, disorienting his adversary and Naruto, fortunately not at the same time.

Seeing that he wouldn't reach in time, Naruto opted to use one of the few middle-range jutsu he had in his repertoire. Quickly throwing two kunais, making after the hand seals.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique," The kunais multiplied.

Before Naruto knew it, he was also struck but the light, therefore temporarily blinded.

Shī who had seen it all caught a glance of the body of his enemy, completely punctured by an insane amount of kunais. So was the immediate area that surrounded him. Looking to the left, he saw the boy, the jinchūriki, who ought to be the one that saved him.

Shī tried to move but he just couldn't, an ugly cut and exhaustion because of that last jutsu preventing him from doing so. When the shinobi of the Leaf came out of his state of shock, he leaped to the injured man's side.

"What's going on?" Asked Naruto.

"You mean you don't know?" Replied Shī.

"I just came to aid you, what do you think?" Naruto claimed, "You are incapable of moving and almost defenseless. Either you give me a chance to help you and your comrades or we remain here arguing."

They heard a trot, someone was running towards them. A tall blonde woman emerged from the dawn, Yugito. Who seemed to have come out of her skirmish without a scratch on her.

"Shī!" Yugito said out loud once he saw him, taking no time to see who was with him. "Get away from him"

Naruto stared at her, overwhelmed. This feeling of immediate, not affinity, but familiarity without ever having known of her left him bewildered. The awakening and whispering of the being inside him caused him migraines.

The Kyūbi breathed out words, repeating how interesting this was and calling her Nibi a few times.

The power that emanated from her. Naruto only had one decontextualized question.

"Who are you?" Said another clone that came out of nowhere.

* * *

"Unless you thought I was born at night, but not last night. God all mighty! Why in the hell would I give you my records?" Asked the fuming blacksmith showcasing predominantly disbelief, or portraying it.

"Because whoever you have sold them to has used them to attack a member of the Land of Fire in repeated instances, and without those records, we have no hints as to who could be behind them." Responded Jiraiya.

"Besides, Kodame-Sama has strongly recommended it to you, aware of the problems that this has brought on," Said the Jonin. "You are the one who has drawn them here, so it kind of is your responsibility to help us."

The old man was recalcitrant in his idea and was not willing to give up anything.

"We have no interest whatsoever in your accounts or in anything other than a mere name. A mystery buyer to whom you have sold numerous pieces. It is not in your interest to cover for him. I mean, whoever it was, came here instead of another site knowing that you signed what you produced, with the full awareness that once he did any messing, we would find you. So, I recommend that you give us a name." Jiraiya concluded.

"Okay, give me a second." Said the old man, concluding with his point.

An explosion suddenly alarmed those in the house.

"Naruto what the hell is going on?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto didn't bother to give an answer right away. He was waiting for one of his clones to disperse or for one they produced themselves to do so, so he got the picture of what was happening. He didn't have to wait long. Blinking repeatedly, he got the memories of one of them.

"We have company, someone is attacking the ninjas of Kumo," Briefed Naruto succinctly.

"Who?" Asked the Jonin.

"Don't know. They are wearing hoods and masks. I didn't get to see any headbands," Naruto claimed as he went to the door, not before making two other clones to remain by the blacksmith's side. The Jonin of the Frost like the idea and, needing to see what was going on within their borders, did so too.

"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu."

* * *

'This one is the Nine-Tails jinchūriki?' Yugito briefly thought to herself. The boy couldn't be more than a 14-year-old, yet within him lived the power to level a landscape.

She didn't have a picture beforehand of what he would be like, yet this was surprising. She had seen some of those features somewhere...

'This is not the time.' She considered before facing wondering back about their enemy.

"We have no time. Shī, try. I'm going to aid Hishida, any clue where he is?" Yugito asked as she checked out Shī's injuries. Noticing that none of them were worrisome and knowing he could heal them himself and be active in no time. She was on the verge of leaving in aid of her superior.

An explosion monopolized the attention of the crowd.

"Just follow the sound." Said Shī, pointing in the direction, just in case.

The clones were about to follow until Yugito promptly stops them.

"You stay here and guard him." She said commandingly. Naruto didn't have time to argue as she left.

Yugito runs, pursuing that sound, hoping she was not too late. While her faith in his sensei's strengths is strong, she didn't want to leave things to chance, not if she could turn the tide by just arriving. The attackers were without a doubt good and coordinated, and while she didn't have too much problem with her foe, Hishida had to face two at the same time.

Plans could beat strength and they for certain didn't have a plan, they had beaten Shī and killed one of their members. She for certain would do her best for that to be an abnormality, no other ally perishing today.

The force in her steps cracked the brunches where she propelled herself from. She heard another enormous explosion. Her fear rose by the minute. She had to be close.

That continuously mentioned worry continues to grow, as something that shouldn't be there was. Silence.

In the forest, she caught sight of an enemy body. 'One to go,' she thought to herself. Suddenly two more bodies appeared. Against a trunk remained the body of her comrade, without moving, being approached by the remaining enemy, crawling with a dagger in hand with the intent of not walking alone into the other side.

With one last leap, she interposed herself between them. Giving her back to her sensei.

Looking down Yugito was about to end the life of that bastard, as she claimed him to be in her mind, by full forced smashing his head with her foot.

Three other figures appeared, determined to not let her do that at this point.

"Wait!" Shouted Jiraiya, hoping for her to show mercy for a second so he could beat an answer of the in a few seconds to be a corpse.

"I told you to remain by Shī's side!" Declared an angered Yugito to Naruto, the original one. Who was confused, not only by her shouting but for who she was and the sensation she was induced in him.

"He's alive, barely!" Warned the Jonin from the Frost.

Without Yugito noticing, he had approached Hishida. Yugito walks to them both and without asking looked at Hishida's state. He was severely injured; she didn't know to what degree. The most glaring problem was in his now gruesome and devastated leg. The flesh and muscles were torn and ripped apart to such a degree that she could see which bone he had broken because she could see the bone itself, she could for sure see the tibia.

"I don't think he will make it to the hospital, he needs first aid right now! None of you would happen to be a medical shinobi?" Shouted the Jonin.

"Here!" Shouted Shī, slowly approaching them with two Naruto at his sides, aiding him since he couldn't walk alone. Yugito stood and approach them quickly so she could speed up the process of Shī walking up to her sensei.

"He is alive, just unconscious." Said the Jonin.

"What can you do?" Asked Yugito, not urgingly. Despite the situation, she remained aware that by her panicking she would become more a problem than a help.

"I will stop the bleeding." Claimed Shī, that while incapable of regeneration tissue or having tsunadeesque type of healing ability, and despite how devastated Hishida leg was, felt confident that he could do it. "Do we have a cast? Something that we could use to protect the leg since we need to move him," Shī asked as he promptly did what he thought.

The Jonin of the Frost took out his vest, while big when pressured against the now somehow not so destroyed leg, could be of use. Shī put the vest under the leg and wrapped it twice around it till firm. Being sure to have grasped the outer and inner layer of the vest and holding it up, Shī asked for Yugito's aid.

"Now, I need a piece something to tie at least three knots in the upper, middle, and lower side for this to hold up and be of use." Shī requested.

As soon as he did, Yugito unbuttons her cloak to reach her shirt. Rather than break it, she unraveled it with precision thanks to her claws. Shī was thankful that the task at hand was to save his leg and not his life, for they all appeared before Hishida's injuries could ever be of great danger. Hishida up to that point hasn't bled that much.

During this process, Jiraiya had already taken the dagger from the crawling and weakened lone survivor of the enemy squad. He picked him up by the collar, so the enemy shinobi was at near eye level with him in his one knee stance. Ordering Naruto to go help the others, Jiraiya wanted to get to know the truth by methods of his own to the judgment of no one.

"Who are you? Who send you?" Asked Jiraiya.

Without the hood, there was no hiding, no shield that could lead someone to conceive you as something other than a man. A scared man with teary eyes who even on the verge of death was trying his best to not show terror. As Jiraiya shook him, maybe out of fear or out of apparent intention, the slowly breathing man smiled. Attempting to speak up, what resonated instead was a cough, accompanied by blood.

Jiraiya knowing that there was nothing this one could tell him that will be of use, out of a hunch, did something that he hoped was nothing more than a delusion. Something that would not show once he died or was unconscious, something that the now paralyzed man could do nothing to stop. Jiraiya covered them both with his body from the sight of those who were healing near the trunk. Opening the dying men's mouth, he looked at his tongue.

'Oh, no,' Jiraiya cursed in his mind.

The still breathing man had his tongue tainted with something that to the naked eye, to the civilian eye, could simply be ink; but that to the experience one was a seal. The root seal. A curse seal.

'What are you playing here, Danzo? A cue? This doesn't make any sense. Why would you need to involve this of all places?' Jiraiya thought. The man cried involuntarily, his tears going in different directions. More out of necessity and secrecy than mercy, Jiraiya put an end to this one's suffering. "You aren't all so cold after all".

Immediately Jiraiya searched for any clue in his clothing, something that could help him make a sense of this, having already sent someone to check the other bodies. This one had nothing more than the casual things you ought to have if you were in this business. Jiraiya was taking out of his thoughts by a shout.

"Jiraiya-sensei, come here!" Yelled Naruto. Jiraiya obliged.

"What?" Asked Jiraiya as he approached. Catching a glimpse at what they were doing, they had patched the Kumo guy up pretty nicely.

"We need to get him to a hospital without him rocking side to side, damaging more his leg. Can the Chief carry him in his hands? He fits there and within a jump they could be outside the hospital," Naruto suggested.

"No need. Watch" Jiraiya suggested with his glace for everyone to look.

A team of the village approached them, led by the Shimokage herself. It didn't take long for someone to take care of the situation with an easier solution than the one that would cause to have summoned Gamabunta of all toads to this bordering freezing environment.

They briefed her on what happened.

"Any explanation?" Asked the Shimokage.

"Not yet, as you can see, we were interrupted," Replied Jiraiya.

"Very well. I will accompany you this time to see the blacksmith, the rest go back to the village. There will be rooms in the hospital already waiting for the both of them," The Shimokage ordered, looking mainly to Yugito. "You four search for the bodies, get any clues you can from them. And someone respectfully pick up their fallen friend," Meaning the dead shinobi from the Lightning.

Naruto was about to follow his sensei before this one stopped him.

"The rest includes you, Naruto, go with them. Once we reached the blacksmith, I will order your clones to disappear. This is up to us," Jiraiya ordered. "You have another thing at hand, one question that you should not leave unattended."

Immediately Naruto looked at the blonde woman. It's true that his desire to know about who she was didn't come from interest, but an internal sense of necessity.

"Who is she?" Naruto asked his sensei, just for him to not answer.

"You ought to ask her that yourself, believe me." Jiraiya left without glancing at the confused boy.


	2. This Ain't no Bird's Cage

For what ought to be two hours at least, two long ones, Naruto did as told. He went with the crew to the hospital and in there remained. Either talking to the Jōnin that had guided them before or by himself since Jiraiya still hadn't returned.

Obviously, and showcasing at least a minimum level of emotional knowledge, Naruto didn't pursue a line of questioning while this conundrum of a figure remained by the side of her hurt friend. Naruto just waited for her to get out of the room so he could cordially do so.

The worst part of it all was not waiting and being alone with his thoughts in a time of doubt such as this, picturing in his mind thousands of scenarios with thousands of answers of who could she be, no. The worst part was having to silence a rather non-present factor in the conversing facet of his life, the suddenly chatty fox.

Naruto had progressed slightly in ignoring the killer of his parents days before he even left the village, but right now it was getting annoyingly hard since the Kyūbi just couldn't stop speaking for some reason.

The door of the room where they were taking care of the so-called Hishida opened and unlike last time where it was a nurse that appeared, the figure to come out was the one Naruto wanted to speak with. Such a person immediately took notice of him, but went to the opposite end of where he was. Towards the exit.

She looked sideways and simply asked him:

"Coming?"

Naruto stood up and, not wanting her to grow impatient, run instead of walked. As he got to her side and reading her demeanor, Naruto spoke up.

"How is he?" Asked Naruto with honest wonder. That he had an ulterior motive that was more important to him didn't mean that he didn't honestly care.

"His life is not in danger, it seems. Never was once they stopped the bleeding. The question that now lingers is his leg and how likely is he to lose it." Yugito said.

Yugito stopped the second they left the entrance, Naruto followed with no knowledge of where she had in mind going. It wasn't out of the blue that he asked her what he wanted, not even her name. Unexpectedly, he wasn't that outgoing in this puncture.

"The name is Yugito, Nii Yugito."

Naruto looked up, having none other option, her being 5'8 and him 5'2, at the woman and smiled a bit.

"Naruto Uzumaki" Claimed Naruto.

"You and I have to talk," Yugito established. "How about we find somewhere where we won't be followed or bothered?"

Naruto nodded in response.

"You have been told of who I am?" Yugito wondered, preconceiving that like her, he had been told the answer.

"I asked, but Jiraiya told me to ask you instead," Answered Naruto

"Not by the Sannin, by the one you have imprisoned within you, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's eyes didn't hold her stare as she said that. Did everyone know of him? How could she? He thought. The surprise face he showcased was a sufficient answer to Yugito.

"Nibi, he called you Nibi. I didn't hear the rest of what he had to say," Naruto almost stammered. In his mind, there wasn't any correlation with that term.

"Within me is the two tails, or as you and most people usually called her, Nibi," Yugito claimed. "Don't call her by that name though, prefers Matatabi."

Naruto's only expression was one of utter surprise. He had only met Gaara, the one tail. Briefly in his mind pass the idea about how funny would it be if he met them one by one in a staggered manner.

She didn't use that label, jinchūriki, one known to him.

Upon knowing of this, the conversation ought to start. There were only nine of them so it, nine now hunted figures who ought to do something if they wanted to survive, a thought both of them shared but didn't utter to one another.

"Oh," Naruto replied. "Talk about a shock." He chuckled at the end, more at the situation than at other things.

"Yeah. Take it you haven't met many of us?" Yugito claimed with no traceable easing and welcoming smile.

"To be honest, only one, Gaara. The one tail," Naruto responded. He passed one hand through the back of his hair as he smiled. "I just have so many questions and so many things I want to talk about that I just don't know how to either start this conversation or how to let it end. How many of us have you met?"

"I share the village with one of them, so yeah. Meeting with one of us is a very recurrent theme in my every day. Outside of Bee and Hyuki," When Naruto looks at her confused, she elaborated before proceeding. "Bee is the host and Hyuki is the Hachibi, the eight tails. As I was saying, outside of them, Han and the Gobi and Fū, a child of your age I reckon, and Chomei," Immediately after hearing that name, Han, Naruto's face morphed into one of sadness.

"Sorry," Naruto said.

"So, you have heard it too, huh," Yugito look at the stars as she continues. "He didn't talk much, so I barely got to know him. The few he spoke didn't but raise my disbelief as I recall not agreeing with a thing he said. Yet, to know what he went through due to something that he had no control over and just die to the silent tiers of no one that cared about him, hurt."

Naruto couldn't help but agree with that sentiment. Did all of them went through the pain, that burden? He sincerely hopes not.

The conversation from that point on developed, for bad as it seemed, being centered on pain because of a loss. Maybe that was the proper standpoint for two people of their condition. For uncountable hours they both spoke with no barriers or care for the forehead protector that they proudly wear.

Yugito questioned Naruto on how was growing up in Konoha being the holder of the Kyūbi and despite his reservations about sharing it with anyone, this time he did without reluctantly, it just felt natural.

First, he confessed to being an orphan. With no over-dramatization for his history was in no need for any of it. He opened to her, confessing things like the fact that he couldn't remember who fed him. If there was any a gentle touch that embraced him and looked at him for what he was, a newborn in desperate need of care and warmth. The wonder if there was ever a smile that laid upon him, caressed him. How every look he remembers mainly was of despair. How every crowd felt the obligation of verbally abused a boy that couldn't stand his ground and with no one to do it for him.

The appellative monster or abomination that he frequently heard. The pain and sorrow that they vested upon his shoulders, the pain of the day the Kyūbi attacked their home.

How he got kicked out of the orphanage at the age of seven doing nothing to warrant it. Days wondering where to go, venturing into the forest, and looking at the river. How he was given a home. He told her how a sole figure that popped out of nowhere, creepily and daringly, venture so far as to talk to him, the lone child that people hated. An effort that not even the professors that had to teach him to read or speak, had usually dared to. That such a figure that would end up being the first to openly try to have any kind of contact or relationship with him would be none other than the third Hokage. Out of nowhere, without asking for it and not having told him that at that point he was a 7-year-old, without neither money nor a family, how the old man granted him one of the two. A loan, meaning everything for his survival.

Confessed eluding some beatings and near beatings, situations he avoided thanks to the Anbu that Sarutobi assigned to look after him, which he noticed back then; or by a matter of size. The small size that he had back then that allowed him to hide in places they could not reach or noticed.

Yugito heard every detail without missing a bit, and the thing that angers her the most is that she was expecting it. How she thought it was within the realm of reasons in this fucked up world. As Naruto did share, so did she. Not only did she understand his feelings and responded in kind, but went as far as to confess her biography.

How could she not after this boy so openly shared everything with her? She surprised herself, while wrongly conceived as an Ice Queen, she would budge and confessed truthful that she shared little and could be off-putting when asked about her past, an icy portrayed armour that hid a beneath deep sensibility that long for many things and wouldn't confess to its pain and loneliness. That and the fact that she wouldn't share that with many if anybody, not that the pool of candidates was vast since the majority ostracized her.

And of the remaining who could understand. Who else but a jinchūriki could come close to understand the pain of being one? Independently of how varied may be their existence, their experience.

Rather than an orphan, she thought often about how that would have been. If that could be any better than the thing she had dealt with. Her being the offspring of a horrendous occasion, an unwanted situation between what couldn't be anything short of a loathsome monster and what at the time was, or so she heard, a joyous woman, a well-known shinobi.

A married woman with an already form family that against her will, drugged, became pregnant of her.

Born into a family in which the husband never attempted to be her father, resent the mere idea of it, and in which a trying mother failed to give her care and to not look at her with a suspiciously angered face. A woman that had no bother when she was taken away for her innate capacities, a woman that if able to, Yugito thought, would have without a doubt aborted her. Who could blame her for that?

She confessed to being taken by the elders of the village when she was barely two for her to become the jinchūriki of the Nibi, the two-tailed bijū that had been in her village since Hashirama had sold her back then. How for the next eight years after that not a single action would come from her own will but by those that impose her to an excruciating and abhorrent training to control her powers.

Naruto heard that part and made a note to ask about it later.

She narrated how she was given an apartment by the time it was all done. How confused and angered she was that her mother never once asks for her, how she was not to return to what was her biological family. How she confronted them, ignoring their father figure, whom she already despised.

They had not an excuse, nor a word, but just an emotion printed in her eyes. One that told her they didn't want her there, that she didn't belong. There was no sadness or empathy, nor a question on how she was or if she suffered during her training.

The anger she had that day made her lose her temper and in an attack of rage almost burned their living room. If she remembered correctly, she was barely 12.

Being taken away by two entire squads of shinobis of her village to ensure not only order but the safety of everyone else from her. Without a care for her.

About how paradigmatically that would be the best moment of her early life.

Naruto waited for her to explain that, given how unlikely that situation could emerge and become something nice. Her answer? It was then when she met the three people that would change her life. It was then when she was being apprehended when they introduced her to Bee, an older boy who shared her fate and who seemed to do well despite it; and it was through Bee that she got to talk to the future Raikage and thanks to this ultimate figure's good word and recommendation that she would end up being introduced into a genin team, replacing a fallen girl, for her education till that moment as a shinobi differed from the rest, never having stepped on the academy.

Naruto guessed that Hishida was her sensei, to which she naturally smiled, nodding. The other teammate's names were Yadina, a figure that while brought a smile on her face, did nothing compared to the other one, for when named, Yugito's face altogether sparkled with an indelible smile, her best friend, Samui.

They talked and talked, losing track of space and time. Having eaten in a stand, going from there to a bench in what seemed the end of the town and watched as rain felled from the branches as the ice that rested upon them melted, and ending up in the apartment where the Kumo team had been stationed. Where they were waiting for the bureaucracy to do its work so they could get some answers.

The night had arrived and by this point. They were talking about Naruto's current plan, training, and getting as far from the reach of the Akatsuki as possible, and the thought they both had in what to do currently.

"What you are telling is simply impossible, Naruto."

"You pin me for a bumbling fool or a non-pragmatic idealist. Someone who blasts his cries to the air as if that made them magically true," Naruto added in defense. It was not the first time he had seen that smile when proclaiming his beliefs.

"No, I pin you as being too young to be so sure of some claims you make. Too relishing in people to forget that our history is not only written in wisdom but mainly in stupidity, pride, and egos. Don't underestimate how stupid we can be as a society Naruto. You will realize it once you become aware of any politics in your own village."

And give in to despair? Naruto didn't think so. "I don't know how to be a cynic, Yugito. I know it has its perks and that we all should have some of it, but I'm unable to live by what it preaches. Living with the notion that everything is for sale, that there are ulterior selfish and captious motives behind it all. Implying that nothing, no bond, no truth is worth fighting for." Naruto took a deep breath as he looked at the ceiling. "Maybe is for the reasons that you stated that this world is how it is. This world didn't suffer from a scarcity of resources or unsolvable frontier quandaries. Maybe they set themselves up within simplistic terms for this world to kill itself, by taking the decision of seeing our world as evil and vile, with war and distrust as its natural features, maybe we have made it actually vile and evil."

"What then?" Yugito inquired, interested, expectant to hear the answer to an alluring speech she didn't expect to hear from a nearly 14-year-old boy.

"I don't know the specifics of it, but I hope to save this world from its ways, save it from its end. I hope to do it before Akatsuki forced us to do so, to be united not by mere fear and hate when it is already too late. I hope to build a world where the worst and most common thing to deal with is the desperate cries of old people questioning the younger generation for how easy they had it, for how soft they are, and shouting the ways of the old. The ways that have destroyed this world, and they have inserted in every generation past, including mine. As if the correct path is one that teaches kids to murder and smile while doing so rather than trying, attempting to dialogue and who knows, works things together." He almost muttered the last part. "Because I sure as hell don't want for none of them to go through what I went through."

Yugito was a bit in awe at the boy. She doubled his age and had been fighting for so long that she may have forgotten that there were some options long ago. She was attempting to believe in him, an effort to live by such a commendable philosophy despite her reservations. Just to care about this world was something that them jinchūrikis had trouble with, yet this boy put before its interest with no resentment of how it never once cared for his well-being.

 **"I like him. I like him very, very much."** Claimed a smiling Matatabi.

"I really want to believe that to be possible. Yet in that world, we will still live with many of our current problems. Maybe that peace you believe in is not set in the goodwill of kind rulers but the fear you inspired once you get to power, by the shinobi you might become. The first resemblance of brief peace in our shinobi world was because of the fear of Hashirama Senju and Madara inspired, and the certain death that facing Konoha at the time warranted. This new peace might all be set on the notion that we jinchūrikis are ticking bombs that in case of war can cause so much damage that no motive is worth the war that requires to obtain it. In which case we will remain what we are to them, Naruto, just a power factor."

"I don't know how to answer that right now." Said Naruto, looking down.

"I would have been surprised if you were. I mean, it quite surprised me some phrases that came out your mouth, not expecting them from someone your age. Your speech made me speechless, if you will," Yugito look at Naruto and both grinned. "When you told me about your grades and that they know you like the village goofball, the least I expected afterward was this."

"I'm attempting to read at least a book here and there," Naruto blushed a bit at the compliments she was giving him.

He recalled and promptly questioned her before he forgot.

"Yugito, about your training, I was waiting to ask you the results. You have told me briefly that you get along with Matatabi and that it was all a success, but I want to know more of it."

It was time. Or so thought a present presence.

**"I want to speak to both of them, Yugito."**

Abruptly Yugito's eyes turned, their color was unmatched as if she had heterochromia. Naruto knew perfectly what this was seeing as some of her features enhanced like her nails. Her hair became wilder. Naruto thought about how it was with him, if that's what other people saw.

 **"Uzumaki Naruto, I have been meaning to speak with you."** Said a poised Yugito standing up.

"Matatabi" Answer Naruto.

 **"Could I speak to both of you?"** Matatabi asked with a soothing and grand tone, considerably different from what he expected.

"How could I do that?" He wondered just for curiosity's sake and respect for the being before him, but with no actual intention of doing that.

**"Aren't you both linked, rather than tied to each other?"**

"I don't know if you recalled our conversation Matatabi-San, but me and the Nine-Tails aren't exactly seeing eye to eye, never had." That was one way to put it. Naruto's hastiness and lack of forethought and self-control when speaking about the Nine-Tails… The subtle quiver on his tone as it loses any acute trace, darkening slightly. The resentment… All showcased just on that sentence and the one to come, seconds in the conversation, all pretty telling for Matatabi and Yugito when pondering what that bond was. "We don't resemble the two of you in any way. Every instance he has appeared in my life was only to threaten to take it, feasting on my hatred and anger to gain control over my actions. My body." He pointed out midst rant, in fairness, the only present good thing it had ever done for him."Obviously saving my life, something I'm not forgetting, but an effort more oriented to saving his own than caring for mine. We are not linked, we do not talk, and from my standpoint at this moment, hate prevails over anything else."

 **"How can you hate him when you haven't talked to him?"** Her tone varied little. Undaunted by Naruto's sudden change.

"He has never wanted to talk and in what relates to him I know enough to both resent him and to desire to have anything to do with him or his power."

 **"What does that say about me then?"** Naruto seemed to forget who he is talking to, Matatabi's words carried an incisive premise. Her words imbued Naruto with unease, although he promptly answered.

"I don't know of you, I don't judge you on the premise of what the Kyūbi is, believing you and all bijū to be the same."

 **"And yet we are both prisoners, have been for centuries. Deprive of every ounce of freedom and will. Taken away from the sites we called homes. Beings that once roam free in a land they shared with humans they cared for, who in response in the generation to come turn against us."** Matatabi claimed to Naruto's excuse centered on non-judgmental thought. Around prejudice. **"Ain't that something that warrants violence, anger?"**

"You didn't kill my parents!" Shouted Naruto in anger. Almost seething at the mere fact. Didn't that warrant it?

 **"Us bijū have been stripe of everything for millennia Naruto. When free we could communicate with one another with no problem. We are not reigned by your social constructs, we are not brothers and sisters, yet we were all created the same day by a sole figure who we held dear most. Our bond ain't family, but there are only nine of us who could understand one another for what we are, and when sealed you deprived us of even that. You have been a prisoner, a victim of your circumstance for just 14 years. We have been from long before your First Kage treated us like utensils and sold us. Sold us in the name of peace. We were to live in peace and harmony with the humans, not as the means to that end,"** Matatabi calmed down as her speech retained a tone of subtle anger for a great part. Naruto didn't flinch at her attitude but at her confession, obviously not being aware of their past. Bijūs too being victims, not just their human hosts, their counterparts. **"And despite all of that, despite everything we went through not once in our lifetimes when free did we attack a single man if it was not to protect ourselves from their plans. Doesn't that give him the benefit of not the doubt, but at least giving his side of the story? I cannot ask you to forgive someone that took some much from you, nor do I expect your relationship to be built in a moment, that is not how life works. What I'm asking you is to rise to the plate like all of us have to do on the verge of this crisis. To step forward."**

"I can't," Naruto said as he fought internally with the idea. The visceral nature of it, the struggle printed on his face, the one he hides by not maintaining eye contact with Yugito and Matatabi, by the mere inertia of his emotion-led reactions.

 **"No, you won't."** She proclaimed with no doubt and no shout. **"Not being able to and not wanting to are two different things,"** Matatabi imperatively determined **"I don't throw around the world hypocrite around often, yet you just clashed with Yugito for her cynic ways of thinking. What is it that impossibilities you from doing it? The pretense in which he will roam free and do it again. That this is all a ruse? Whenever you like it or not, your dream cannot be met if you two don't work together, if we don't unite against Akatsuki. If capable of killing Han and who knows what they have done with Kokuo, then you will need aid, and I won't come in yours unless you give this a chance,"** Matatabi claimed.

"You are surpassing some limits, Matatabi. I'm warning you." Yugito said in the background of her mind.

 **"I know what I'm doing"** Continued Matatabi that internal dialogue.

Naruto asked himself if he was up to this. It was difficult for him to hate, sincerely, in his opinion, it entails a level of effort, and to maintain it that was almost impossible. To be spiteful, unhappy, ultimately unhealthy... But this revolved around the figure who took so much from him, just as Matatabi herself claimed.

"How do we do this? The only time I met with him and saw him was when falling off a cliff," Naruto said, already regretting it. Relegating in Matatabi's words and trusting them before urgency that he was perfectly aware they were in.

 **"Just sit down, relax, and concentrate. The rest leave it to me,"** Proposed Matatabi as Yugito's body sat down just in front of him. She thought to herself how difficult this was going to be, given how she had to go through a seal **"Close your eyes."**

* * *

"Just where is she? They have been gone all afternoon," Shī claimed to what he thought were deaf ears in the middle of the hall. "That they won't tell us anything about him till tomorrow doesn't mean she just can run off and not check on him."

Matter of fact, he wasn't. "If anyone has to catch up is those two," Claimed Jiraiya, sitting nearby the doorway where Shī protested from, with his leg crossed. Having just arrived and hoping as well to talk with Kumo's team leader. "Give them space, they probably are just sharing with one another, we will wait till they want to come."

Given Shī's rant and seeing inside over him at his dormant captain, as Shī blocks his entrance, Jiraiya thought it was better to go back to the Shimokage while he waited for Naruto.

Before he turned around.

"Am I to trust you here and now?" Shī said out of the blue, looking too at the bed of his still unconscious superior. Maybe this boy shows care through distrust.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a pain in the ass?" Asked Jiraiya, intending to leave the second after, till he recalls that he could share what he intended with the… "Say, wouldn't you happen to be the team's second in the command?" When Shī nodded, Jiraiya apologetically babbled his apologies. 'Just my luck.'

* * *

 **"Beautiful speech Matatabi, a pity that it will fall flat to stupid ears,"** Claimed a deep voice.

When Naruto opened his eyes once again, here he was, in that dark room. With nothing but a huge jail in front of him. A jail that guarded darkness, two red eyes, and a horrifying and vile wide smile.

"Kyūbi," Naruto clenched his teeth, highlighting the sides of his jaw.

He could hear someone behind him, someone or something huge. Blue flames seemed to light the dark and dismal room. Casting a reflection upon the water. When he turned, he was in awe of the size of Matatabi, even within his head. Quite different from seeing Shukaku from the first time, if you asked Naruto.

 **"Kurama, listen, we..."** Matatabi was interrupted, Naruto meanwhile retained the fox's name.

 **"Leave, I'm sleeping and your requests are not worth waking up to,"** Kyūbi turned to give his back to his cage. **"I concede with the brat here. Three generations trapped within an Uzumaki. I won't move a muscle to help one of them."**

 **"Don't be so short-tempered and stupid. One day you will have to resort to something that isn't..."** Once again Matatabi was cut short by a voice that suddenly got menacingly deeper.

 **"Rage!"** Kyūbi shouted as he clashed against the bars of his jail.

The shout, and the force of his sudden action induced a seismic reaction within the place, Matatabi remains still while a scared Naruto fell to his ass. Much to someone's amusement.

Matatabi was gonna say pouting. Although she could have said pridefully too, which incidentally, lead to emotions such as hate and resentment. The many episodes back in time she could recall him either provoking those who were weaker than him or imposing his might when tested, which he wanted to show and impose over the other Biju… Especially to Shukaku, non-stop, as the small one couldn't stand being mocked and made fun of and always went on the attack in response. Matatabi couldn't imagine what would happen if he had beaten Kurama at something, what would happen shortly after, the fox internally fuming.

She just wondered if Kurama had caught that thing human called puberty. Although he usually was more the snarky type than the loud whiner, swift childish responses were not an outlier given to his demeanor.

 **"How about you erase this illusion, this fog, so we can see you,"** Matatabi proclaimed.

Kurama did so, and Naruto for the first time saw what this creature was beyond his teeth and eyeballs. He was humongous, even within the recipient of Naruto's mental projection, within his seal.

 **"This place is not my design, Matatabi. You should know that. How about you make the question and leave?"** Kyūbi recommended.

 **"Go ahead,"** Matatabi granted Naruto a way. Happy and content to see that maybe they could get somewhere.

"What happened that day?" Naruto asked.

 **"And give you closure? Why would I do that? Given how much fun it is to see you scratch your head. Still clueless, scarred, as such an important part of your life remains unanswered."** Kurama responded with a joyous tone as if this was a genuine pleasure for him.

"Kurama is it, no? What do you want?" Naruto once again asked, not seeing the point of doing it once again if this thing once again remained silent.

 **"For my power or that answer?"** Query an inquisitive Kurama.

"The answer," Naruto promptly responded. "Releasing this seal right now is not an option."

 **"Figures. There's nothing I want outside of that, nothing with similar value to me. Let's see..."** Kurama wondered what he desired upon being deprived of the best item on the menu **"Nothing that you could grant me right now would be worth that answer. You do love your promises, don't you? How about I tell you about a figure I want to be beaten to a pulp and you do that for me,"** Kurama proposed, smiling?

"I won't promise a single thing, less when I don't know who you are talking about." Naruto refuted, talking about making deals with the devil... Literally.

 **"This ain't a deal kind of thing where you can elude talking to one another, Kurama, Naruto. If you both don't work together, we are doomed. You know what happened to Kokuo. We have suspicions that Isobu has faced the same fate. You may not like it, but outside this receptacle, things are quickly changing, deteriorating. Without one another, dependent on unreliable and confronted villages, they will hunt us, one by one, till none remain."** It was that simple. **"The fate of that scenario, given the power they will gain and the means they have used so far to reach them is one that you will be wise to fear. Either you grow together as nakama or we will perish." She searched for something that could motivate reasoning. Matatabi argued, "Weren't the words of the old that claimed that we had to guide them?"**

 **"You have some nerve quoting him. Even he couldn't predict the reach that this beasts' hunger has. He left us here under the teaching of an already fallen predicament. With a mantra based upon not hurting those that if allowed would rip our tails of,"** Kurama exclaimed, exhausted of claims that dwelt in his eyes merely in stupidity. **"You realize that if our chakra was within our bones, had we any, and if they needed for us to be conscious while they extracted it, they would do so. Smiling."** That being Kurama's most endearing example of their motivations reach.

 **"I see that you will not give this a chance."** She was hopeful for more than this. **"You do not need hypothetical scenarios to draw a picture of how menacing they are, Kurama. Many horrors came to fruition thanks to their hands. We all have seen them."**

They were old enough to avow and point out many historic stories' incorrectness or blatant lies. Depictions that, while harsh and that confessed to being violent, were naïve, fairytale-like when compared to the realistic disasters they described, that actually happened.

Again, Matatabi was certain, determined enough to know that they had to rise above it, above shinobikind past and recurrent present.

 **"Let's say we do as you say, we live by what you say, your plan. We don't intervene. What fate awaits us?"** Kurama's response to Matatabi's question was a smirk and a mere sound when he smiled. **"Is there anything that will make this childish part of the conversation go faster? Have you already thought of what you want?"** Matatabi asked, frustrated by Kurama's contempt about the whole situation and his own life.

 **"My other half back"** Utterly put Kurama.

"Your other half?" Naruto asked silently, yet they heard. There was a reason for him not being that surprised, not showcasing his past known dumbfounded expressions.

 **"Tsk! I guess that for any of my demands to be met, I have to explain the story for them to make sense."** Kurama protested, he was not looking foreward to this.

 **"Are you that confident that your goanna do your part, beforehand?"** Matatabi wondered, definitely surprised that he would do such a thing, giving his present demeanor.

 **"No, I just think he is that stupid and ingenuous."** Kurama looked at Naruto, enjoying his angered face **"Besides I believe that if Naruto here wants his new friend to be part of any kind of the so-called Jinchūriki crew, with your help and acceptance, he might be pushed to fulfill his end of the bargain."**

"I won't make a deal with him. He knows what promises mean to me, and I don't want to be tied to the course of a malicious enterprise just for him to give an answer that I could live without."

That was a bluff if both Naruto and Kurama had ever seen one.

"There is a price that I am not willing to pay," Naruto claimed, looking fiercely at Kurama in the eyes.

 **"How about we let him share and then we judge,"** Interluded Matatabi.

 **"Yes, like I would do any..."** Kurama started for Matatabi to end it, enough was enough.

"Just do it, you fucking stubborn jackass!"

 **"Alright alright,"** Kurama cursed at her fellow bijū for her everlasting relentlessness. He looked down at Naruto. " **As you know, your mother was too my jinchuriki since young. Upon becoming pregnant with you, they held preparations for when, not if, the seal loosened. Given how I almost escaped back when Mito gave birth, they weren't open to that happening again. I don't see everything you see, mostly because I rarely care to watch. But that time I did, expectant of taking my chance. The birth took place on the outskirts of the village."** Elucidated Kurama.

As he did, Naruto's anger rose, not expecting to like nothing confessed further along as Kurama proceeds.

 **"Fool of me. I was waiting for all to start. Before the seal was weakened enough for me to escape, your father had me chained, rearranging the seal once more. I was incapable of moving a limp, making my anger rise. Convinced that they defeated me, you were born, and so I waited for the seal to be closed. Fully repaired. For your mother to be my captor for whatever years she had left. But then I felt it, that cursed and despicable chakra."** Kurama growled. **"Once again, I cursed my luck as a fucking Uchiha for what I promised to be the last time grabbed a hold of me, controlled me amid all that happened."**

"An Uchiha?" Asked Naruto. Which one? He thought.

 **"Like Madara did in his time. My first thought while controlled was that it was him once again. It was a possibility at first despite the incongruity of thinking he was still alive."** His death happened many decades before. **"I quickly erased that train of thought, this time it wasn't his signature. Nonetheless, whoever he was, he had to be a capable Uchiha, either trained by Madara or aware of his feats. He knew perfectly well what he had to do to control me, and had the required skills to do that, having already broken the seal."** No easy feat either. **"One moment they chained me in the insides of your mother and the next time I had any agency, memory, and control over my actions I was standing in the core of your precious Leaf, being attacked, so I responded in kind."**

Naruto was furious, but so far didn't have any problem believing it. Jiraiya told him that this theory was already a chance they had taken account for. Naruto knew everything about the ending. If the stories met at the last part, he would have to grasp, buy, that the Nine-Tails confessed the truth.

Matatabi carefully listened. She had known nothing about Kurama for so long.

 **"After being released, the first thing I caught sight of was a shinobi looking at me with anger and determination, before ordering those around him to come at full strength at me. After being once again at the mercy of an Uchiha and after being caged for so long, I lost it."** Kurama had no respite. **"I could tell you right now, in retrospective, that attacking the village that day came from the certainty that I could never be free of them, but I would be lying. There was no thought, no plan, nor the simple concept of either is me or them, I could only see the world through the prism of hate. I wreaked havoc. The only desire that led me was the hate and rage that Konoha inspired."** He paused. **"I didn't have to wait long for your father to appear again to finish things, in typical fashion of course. Promptly transporting me outside the village. Had you blinked, you would have missed something important for all happened too fast to anyone's comfort."**

Naruto and Matatabi remained silent, each pondering. Kurama lies down once again, getting in a more comfortable position as he confessed the story's end. Speeding up the read of the last chapter. **"He wasn't alone. Your mother's chains held me in place, trapped me again. I could barely move, only capable of turning my head in the hope to catch sight of what they were doing. It was then that I saw it. The altar for the ritual and you laying on there."** An image pops up, Naruto glimpsed something, a second of that day, and even heard the cry of a baby who couldn't be anyone but himself. **"I refused to let them seal me once again. I freed one arm so I could put an end to it, so I could kill you. Both your parents caught the blow, getting themselves between me and you... You know the rest; they sealed me in you and they died, concurrently."**

Naruto didn't know what to do or think, other than to tear up. He just knew things added up. The Kyūbi simply didn't have any reasons to lie.

Naruto understood for months that his father would have died primarily by that jutsu, the "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal" and that her mother wouldn't escape the fate that them jinchūrikis face once their bijū are extracted.

To think she did so much afterward. 'What a woman' He thought, not being the only one to think along those lines. Matatabi and the person who rested on her back, hearing everything, concluded the same thing.

All this just proved that Jiraiya and Sarutobi made sense of it all beforehand, that they were right.

According to all this, the Kyūbi didn't kill his parents, he just speeded things up. Without him not a thing of this would have happened, yet, given that he was too a prisoner and not responsible for this, it was not by his hand that his parents' lives were sealed, their days counted. Was that supposed to make him feel any better? To think that Kyūbi wasn't the first reason, would what? Erase the fact that he would have killed them and in his mind did so with pleasure.

Naruto pretended that he understood that in the name of freedom people or conscious beings would do anything for it, resort even to violence when that was the only thing that granted it. Killing an infant maybe, too. He could see, hear in their tones without the need for elaborated speeches that they were victims, yet he wasn't ready to forget everything. Where for Sasuke, Gaara and the Kyūbi, were for their desires, he would not utter breath, was he to forgive them all? Maybe the first two, this one he may not.

"Nothing personal, huh?" Everyone looked at Naruto after he said those words, yet couldn't catch his eyes, for he was glancing down. "You better know how we can do this, Matatabi, because I for one don't have a single clue."

Kurama looked at the boy and wondered. The Nine-Tails expected him to snap, yet Naruto didn't.

 **"I presume that the one that needs a beating is that Uchiha?"** Asked Matatabi to her fellow bijū, who replied with a nod.

Naruto even enjoyed the idea for a second…

"I would like to tell you to consider it done, given what happened, but I won't promise," Naruto claimed. "And as far as your other request I'm not Orochimaru, nor a reliable Uzumaki when it comes to the control of those types of seals, so..." His doubt lingered as he countered point for point in his head what ought to happen for that scenario. "I won't disinter my father and kill someone just for that jutsu. For you to get what he stole back. Having seen that jutsu in action, I don't think I would do that to anyone, not even Orochimaru himself."

 **"It's cute that you think this world, your current time, will let you act upon your honor and way of thinking. Imagine you're measured by the consequences of your actions, when your honor translates into piles of bodies,"** Kurama resorted, sicken of this boy.

 **"Thank god we have you to give us the alternative,"** Matatabi responded with sarcasm.

"You're free to throw up in this cage at my naïve ways, for all I care, you know."

'How in the hell we are going to make this work?' Yugito thought.

 **"It is clear we will settle nothing for the time being. Anything else you have to claim before you leave me alone?"** Kurama asked.

In between Matatabi's ears stood up a tired Yugito. Upon the fact that there was no progress being made, she could only reorient the conversation rather than worsened it. Kurama, who had always been aware of her presence, silently laughed at her boldness and blindness to the fact that she had no quarrel in this, from his standpoint.

She wanted to emphasize Matatabi's words, help her out with her struggle to get to this two.

"If your solution is to ignore one another, ignore Matatabi's warning, and pretend that your success and survival isn't reliant in your capacity to communicate with one another, then we depend on two fools. That needed development is a fact, is inescapable, not a recommendation." Yugito understands that Konoha doesn't have Kumo's resources and competence when dealing with and training their jinchūriki, but there had to be a margin to what that downfall in abilities ought to be. Naruto and Kurama held the most power and potential, each individually in their respective categories, among all jinchūriki and bijūs, yet it wasn't farfetched to put them in the lowest echelon. They were the most inexperienced, had the worst connection and who knows if the worst relation. Their shortcomings were maddening. "We will have to outgrow you rather than cooperate with you in order to achieve your goals, Naruto."

Jumping down from her bijūs head, Yugito approached the bars, looking at the Kyūbi dead in the eye. The fox couldn't be less bother, closing one of his eyes. Likely to ignore her, which didn't deter the Kumo's shinobi.

She had thought long about what to say, considering both recent claims.

"Kurama, you cannot pretend that Naruto doesn't exist. There is no scenario where he completely frees you, therefore killing himself. Some goals and dear people preceded that decision, not to mention his honest wish of living, something we all have and that you have no right to take away from him." Turning to the boy. "In the same manner, Naruto, if Kurama was to be removed from you, you will die minutes after, as your mother did. If you don't know it by now, you should. You need his knowledge, experience, and chakra to face foes that seriously outmatch us. Without growing dependent and becoming a one-trick pony."

Naruto was about to interrupt her. Many people in history had faced such foes without dōjutsus or a tailed beast within them, Sasuke Sarutobi, the thirds's father, all the Sannin... His own father. Hell, he coulnd't presently recall a Kage that needed of that, matter of fact had that.

It was a short-lived thought that lasted just the interval between Yugito's pauses. He was shrewd enough to understand the context he was in, the aspiration of this conversation for them to get past their difference, and most important of all, that he was not any of those figures, not near their level by any imagination. That he was just a 14-year-old miles away from Itachi's prowess and who knows of those around him. Not cognizant if the Uchiha was the Akatsuki's most formidable warrior.

It was not a life-time ago that he faced Zabuza and the wide gap in between them. His best efforts were good enough for a single cut, nothing more. He was self-aware then to plan to free Kakashi, knowing that only he could defeat Zabuza; and he is was self-aware now that despite the training he had to be able to single-handedly face foes like that and win, a major jump in a short span, that he was not that close and needed aid with stuff.

He remained wisely shut.

"You need one another, it's an obvious truth you can't hide from. If what you want is to survive, that is. If you cope and try to get along with each other, you could be a force that could turn the tide. Although not now given how unstable your chakra is." Yugito added.

"Naruto can, upon knowing you Kurama if you let him, promise you to be your last holder. For you to hold that promise to heart knowing that he will fulfill it, giving that you have watched him, and with the fear that those among his village won't live by it. Yet he can't promise you much more than only to release you once he trusts you before we reach that part." Old age. "You each may not be entitled to anything from one another, not a sentiment, nor pity or the desire to help. Despite what you've been through because of things, both of you did indirectly to each other." She was doing the best scenarios among the realm of possibility, reason. "What you could do, though, is to empathize to the maximum extent you can just to take the first steps. Settle a common ground."

Matatabi took a seat just behind her Jinchūriki. "Me and Matatabi differ from you two. They trained me since I was two, so when the day came and the previous holder failed, I survived and could be the successor. And from there on out after the success they trained me to control her rather than to work with her, but with time we have grown closer. Not without hardships, believe me". She looked up, Naruto doing so in sync just to see if Matatabi's facial expressions argued with that. They did not. "To her, I'm a prison and she has been mine too. They deprived us both of freedom and trusted, or better yet, forced us with a burden we never should have to carry. Mine being what being a Jinchūriki, as they called us, entitles, and hers is the reification that sick people have led you all too. The transformation in the popular tongue where rather than beings you are batteries, weapons, to be harvested and used. We are not perfect, but we are at a basic level and we understand the challenge ahead of us and how crippling it is to look at the past, not for wisdom and to correct mistakes, but to ascertain and uphold a suicidal need to hate one another. That would be maddeningly foolish, plain stupid." Dare she say, "Asinine."

It was Matatabi's turn to smirk.

Obviously, Kurama's standpoint of her not knowing was wrong. Tired of the lecture, he for the last time petitioned them to grant him his rest.

**"Leave."**

Naruto concurred with the fox premise of ending this conversation, and Yugito and Matatabi grew tired of trying to force something that you simply couldn't, something they could only do themselves. So they concurred.

* * *

Naruto looked at Yugito with already one thought in mind. He knew he liked her five minutes in talking with her, however, he wasn't near the point where he could trust her with the information that she just stumbled upon. That was carelessly shared.

"Yugito, my parents... I... Nobody can know," Naruto exclaimed with sudden urgency. Stammered even a bit.

Seeing the boy frantic with worry, Yugito landed her hand on his shoulder, comforting him. It was no easy fix, as Naruto's nervousness didn't disappear.

"They won't, your secret is safe with me," Yugito claimed as she smiled, losing the tension that remained after The Conversation.

"Thanks. I don't know what would happen if they knew. They kidnapped my mother when she was just a child and you are plentifully aware of how much of a stir it causes to just pronounce my dad's name in certain places." Naruto said in a staggered, frenetic manner.

"Breathe, Naruto. Breathe," Yugito advised, given the rush the boy had awakened. "I'm not among those who hate him. Thankfully, I didn't get to face him in battle. I didn't partake in the war between our villages. I was only a child." She took a glance at Naruto "Even though I won't share a word of it, you realize that eventually, they are going to find out? I mean, beforehand I already thought to myself that I recognized some of your features, now I am having trouble thinking of you both apart. Certainly, with that hair."

"That's the second time I've heard that today, you know," Naruto put both hands in the back of his head "It's making me wonder if it's worth it. I think so. What do you think?" Naruto asked, somehow relieved that this emotion-packed conversation was paused for a necessary second and a simpler banter taking its place.

"Have we made the jump where we advise one another with our looks?" Her words lingered, not being icy anymore. "Do you know how big of a leap we are talking about here?" Said Yugito before standing, laughing at this boy magnetism, after seeing him smile again. "I think it looks good on you Naruto, give it a couple of years and it will grow on you a little more."

Naruto blushed in response, much to his demise, inciting Yugito's laughter. She couldn't remember feeling this ease with anybody outside of Samui, and given what they had talked about, it was some sort of miracle. Yugito looked out, realizing that the night had arrived and that by now his sensei might have woken or something. Not wanting to leave Shii alone with guarding duties, she stood up.

"Let's go back to the hospital, with luck we will catch our senseis."


	3. Taking some Premature Steps

"Has he woken up?" Asked Yugito as she entered Hishida's room with Naruto close behind, surprised to see the Sanin interacting with _Shī_.

"Not yet," _Shī_ quickly answered. "There's nothing to worry about, though. A team is coming in the morning to accompany us back home." Putting all at ease.

"I guess that's our cue for leaving then." Added Jiraiya before looking at the two blonds. "Take it you two are done talking?" He asked.

Yugito nodded in response, alone. Naruto meanwhile could not agree at all, they had many things to still talk about, many hours more for them to share.

"Was there ever a trail?" Questioned Yugito, as always, never losing sight of the situation.

"I'm afraid not. The Shimokage will fill you all tomorrow of what we found." Jiraiya responded. "We will leave before the sun rises, so if you two wanna say goodbye to one another, it's best if you do it now. There is a room for us to rest, rent-free, Naruto." His tone got joyous at that last part.

Naruto looked at Yugito, a bit saddened. Here he was, hoping to get to know her more, to talk to one of his kind. Yugito smiled at the young man.

"So much for getting to know one another, huh?" Yugito claimed, almost reading his mind. Naruto nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, I'm certain this won't be the last time we will see each other."

Naruto for sure hoped so.

"It will not. You know!" Exclaimed Naruto laughing and even shouting a bit. His excitement resurfaced at the prospect of that occasion. Already eager for when it arrived.

Yugito being reserved and more on the cold side of demeanors offered Naruto a hand. Now one could predict what Naruto did in response, hugging the now surprised figure with full-felt emotions.

Matatabi smiled, now acquainted and fond of this sudden and extravagant character, despite how she talked to him. Their conversation didn't invite many smiles, which did nothing but increased the fondness they had shortly developed for the boy when they saw his unique smile.

Jiraiya said goodbye to Shī who, unlike these two, hadn't grown fond of in any manner. 'What a bore of a guy, for the love of God'. He approaches both blonds and offered his hand to the Kumo Jinchūriki, who respectfully responded in kind.

"You better take care of him," Said Yugito not menacingly, having heard from Naruto that Jiraiya was among those who treated him best.

"I will believe me. Take care as well, Yugito-san."

Both he and Naruto walk out of the room under the following glance of Yugito, who watches them leave from just outside of the aforementioned room, hearing Naruto relentingly shouting the words goodbye. What a brat he was, in a great way, she thought.

When free of the stupor of the moment, she noticed something in her pocket that wasn't there beforehand. Reaching for it the second after realizing it.

It was a scroll, obviously a small one. Without the stare of Shī upon her, she read it in the empty hallway.

_Yugito,_

_Should it ever come to it, should you need aid, don't refrain from asking for it. We will both come, just give us time for Naruto to be ready._

_It was me that filtrated the Akatsuki information to your Kage. To all villages. We ought to protect you all from them, I ought to protect him._

_He's quite the character, but I believe he can prevent a future where we are at the mercy of what the Akatsuki impose. For him to do that, he will need time to control his powers, and for that, we will need your aid. I know of Genbu, it's not a demand but a sincere request._

_Were you ever in the desire to send a letter, just use this seal, and a toad I have assigned to serve as the messenger will make sure we receive it..._

Yugito continued reading some warnings that Jiraiya wrote in case that procedure somehow couldn't be done, giving her locations... Wary stuff. Boring stuff. That Jiraiya knew about that island, which ought to be one of Kumogakure's biggest secrets, was aggravating, shocking. Someone needed to be held accountable. She needed to talk to Bee, urgently. The only comfort she found in that it was that it wasn't the other Sannin who found out.

With that out of the way, Yugito thought to herself, could the idea that Naruto uttered work? For all Jinchūriki to work in aid of one another. Sharing information and knowledge, at least, as a first step into what the boy hoped developed to be a bigger scheme and initiative. "What do you think?" She asked, a bit addled.

" **I don't know, kitten. I sincerely don't know,"** Answered Matatabi with only one certainty, that it had never happened before.

* * *

"Naruto, I have to send Tsunade a report on the mission. You want to take advantage of it and send a letter to your friends? To a certain pink-haired girl? Huh," Asked Jiraiya with a smirk, insinuating, as they walked outside the village, having morning long arrived.

Naruto thought about it. He had already sent one to all his friends recently. It was not a letter that invited a response directly; he was just asking for them to train hard, for there were challenges ahead that he wished none of them got seriously hurt because of a lack of understanding. Undervaluing the dangers they were about to encounter. He wrote good wishes, a pair of easy jokes about Choji and one to piss off Kiba, and wished them good luck. Yet he didn't get an answer for not one of them, and chiefly, not from Sakura.

He knows about that already.

He realized that his relationship with her was one-sided. That love was not a matter of insistence or determination, at least not one of its premier facets before two people grow acquainted and close to the possibility of being a couple. Not when one of them didn't want any of it to happen. At this juncture, Naruto knew better than that.

He simply was not entitled to anything from her no matter what he did, and he shouldn't proceed with their relationship like he did. She was solely focused on someone else. Come to think of it, Naruto didn't want to know the answer to the question of what she really felt towards him. What she felt about his persistence. He believed that annoying would be among those answers, and it was fair.

The same way that it was fair to him to desire that for once she was the one to start a conversation, to visit him, to invest a single ounce of her time with him by the mere fact that they were supposedly friends. Should the relationship be of reciprocity instead of one of not abuse, but of Sakura treating him with disdain.

He loved her. It was the only explanation he could grasp. With full-hearted honesty. Her intelligence, her drive, her fiery character, although it had a downside. She evidently went overboard eventually, hitting him too much.

Naruto did honestly grow tired occasionally. More than occasionally, actually.

Nevertheless, he attempted to see care in some of those bumps. Somehow. He tried to believe that it was Sakura's way of telling him to grow a bit or to realize when he was doing something wrong. She just hadn't grasped the concept of a pat on the back for encouragement or the occasional pinching; going directly instead for the punching.

His hope was just for her to express whatever that is in a healthier manner.

Continuing with the praise: her looks, her forehead, and for certain those eyes. Those emerald eyes that were unequivocally hers, unique and mind-bending in every way. One only could hope to get lost in them. More frequently than he would care to admit, he would stare at them, baffled, perplexed, mystified, flummoxed. Search for any emotion you want that describes being in awe before something that undoubtedly attracts you in a way you can't understand.

But he realized that his feelings were not met, and he was not settled on being miserable any time soon, rather the contrary to that. While romantic love wasn't among his five priorities for the time being, till he brought back that bastard and Akatsuki was no longer on the map, he wasn't planning on not moving on, he will try at least if when reunited that relationship he strived for proved as nothing more than a dream-like scenario in his imagination.

The ball now was on her court, he had already done enough for her to do something, to respond, or to initiate the simplest conversation between them, if not, there was the definitive answer that he yet didn't want to hold for certain.

Thinking about one-sided relationships, Naruto reflected on an instance in where someone was courageous or rather kind enough, Kiba, of all people. He remembered that during what had to be the week before he and Jiraiya left the village, all the boys from the academy, Tenten, and Lee invited him to eat.

He didn't remember every detail of the conversation. Things went down once Lee bubbled out something about the love he had for Sakura and how, Naruto and Sasuke, were both his rivals.

Lee is among the few that wanted and probably still wants that teme back.

Don't ask Naruto who, but someone pointed out how she was clueless of both actual emotions before Shikamaru responded by claiming how obvious and tiresome their actions were when showcasing them. To open their eyes and see how she was only focused on Sasuke.

One thing leads to another. They continued with this line of questioning, all in goodwill and even having a laugh, all till Kiba knocked on the table and pointed to Naruto, fuming for what then were unknown reasons…

* * *

Flashback.

"All this moaning is rich coming from you, Naruto!" Said an angered Kiba that now had the attention of the entire group, especially from his teammate who knew what this was all about.

"Kiba!" Warned Shino.

"Huh?" Naruto babbled, puzzled. What was Kiba suddenly talking about?

"Sakura may only have eyes for Sasuke, but she ain't the blindest one of us. That title my friend is all yours!" Kiba claimed, pretending to be coronating Naruto with an imaginary crown.

Shino wrestled to put a hand on Kiba's mouth. While always undaunted and distant, uncaring about such affairs, this time an internal voice encouraged Shino to intervene for his non-present teammate.

"Kiba stop it, this is not for you to say. You're doing this out of jealousy, not for her sake." Added Shino as he grabbed his teammate's arm, Kiba freeing himself brusquely immediately.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Choji. Lost, just like Lee and Tenten.

"What did I do?" Questioned Naruto, what could he have done for this short-tempered mutt to get like this.

"I don't care," Claimed Kiba, responding to Shino "Hinata likes you Naruto. There I said it." The expressions of surprised reign in all of their faces. "She is so blatant about it that even the two of us have noticed! Us! I still have no clue how you haven't. In the past weeks, we have been doing missions together with you and when casually dropping Sakura's name you act as if that didn't hurt her because you don't fucking notice! You're an idiot." Kiba piled on. "And what's worse, you haven't focused a single ounce of your time with her, really getting to know her. To acknowledge her enough as a person to take into account her damn feelings."

"You have done it this time. That's enough." Said Shino.

"What?" Exclaimed all the remaining members. Unlike the others who just shouted it out, Naruto said it almost quietly, in disbelief. He didn't have a single clue.

Things became awkward. The rest of the conversation was bizarre, the remaining crew taking Kiba's words as an indictment on themselves because they also had no clue. Tenten mentioning how they could possibly tell this to Neji, Lee shouting out how he would feel, Choji doing an analogy of love with food, specifically cuts of meat…. Among that tangle, one thing became clear to Naruto and the rest.

He had to talk to her before he left.

And he did. Minding after borrowing his surrogate sister, Ayame, to help him with this conundrum, to write what he wanted to tell her, leading with his heart but not so much that he hurt her out of a not ill-intended phrase or with his foolishness. Some words Ayame told him to say, for his speech to be better phrased and more concise, for him to showcase what he felt more clearly, to date shocked him.

It shocked him he said them out loud. The case was that at the time he had no fear of being cheesy, instead, being more focused on being honest.

* * *

Naruto approached the Hyūga compound the day after and asked the guards if he could talk to her. Upon rejection, Neji, who had been told what happened by Tenten, walked out with Hinata to ensure that they had the talk, not before glancing at Naruto with doubt, only to meet Naruto's gaze and discern the same uncertainty.

"Hinata, can I speak to you alone, please?" Asked Naruto, to which the blushing Hyuga nodded, needing all her strength to not faint as she followed along.

They walked till they reached the closest park there was. Naruto took a deep breath before talking.

"Please don't pass out." He promptly pleaded as he turns to her. "I… What I want to tell you is important. I want us to talk about this, you know. To be aware of you, and to realize what you feel. I'm sorry for asking for so much. Please, endure me." Naruto requested.

"What... What I feel?" Stammered Hinata. "You...You mean you know?"

When Naruto nodded, Hinata borderline fainted, if not got knocked out, close to. She fell for certain to the grass, Naruto arriving late, yet soon enough for her to not hit her head against the ground.

He gives her time to get herself together.

Sadly enough, by the time she did, she tore up a bit, not of happiness but the contrary, for she knew what was about to happen. She quickly became cognizant.

She needed little more confirmation besides Naruto's apologetic stare and pleading tone.

"I'm genuinely sorry, Hinata. In my life, I can count with two hands those who have been truly kind and caring for me. Ayame, the Old Man, Iruka-Sensei, Choji, Shikamaru, Konohamaru, briefly, for they arrived late in my life, but Tsunade too, Jiraiya and Shizune and certainly you." He acknowledged, hoping it was not too late. "Your words before I battled Neji, your gift after I defeated Kiba. I was blind to see many things but never had I intended to be blind to you, to one heart that offers so much just for me to side look and not notice. I was a fool then, and I am one now. But as you said, a proud one that learns." He smiles as he quotes her words, but his confession of gratitude and appreciation for them brought nothing close to a smile on the lavender eyed Hyuga. "When I see your drive and character, when I see you here now, staring at your eyes, the pathway to a heart that doesn't wish for no one's harm, yet valiant and aware enough to fight for those you care for, I feel both inspired and guilty. I feel the need to be forward with you, dattebayo." He paused, trying to gather himself. "I… I don't know how to say this." The stammer was recurrent as he was lost in between her misted eyes and what he had to blurt out. "I… I know you know of my feelings towards her." He had to get it out.

"Naruto-Kun... I..." Hinata looked down the second after. She couldn't get another word out.

"I am so sorry. I… I was so focused on her I forgot about you. I wish for things to be different… I. As you can tell, I didn't mention her in that first list of persons. She has even given me the signs all around that she doesn't wish for us to be more than teammates. It hurts, yet at least she gave me the answer that if I took it, will grant me the certainty that could make me move on. So, in some ways, she was kinder to me than I was to you."

Hinata was about to interject saying that that wasn't true, given how kind he had been to her in some of the most important moments she remembered, moments that changed her for the better.

She just couldn't get it out. There was an impasse where Naruto waited for her to say something. Upon the awkwardness and her visible struggle, he waited a bit more until he thought fitting to continue taking all into account.

"It seems I ain't keen on reading other people's feelings so much." He roughed the back of his hair, he snickered briefly in between his apologies at himself. "Or asking them about them. I want everyone's well-being without realizing what that actually is. I was so focused on myself and my team that I…," he had to pause for a moment, glancing at the floor, "... I wanted to give you that path, that answer you didn't question to me so you didn't live in that constant wonder." Naruto meets her eyes. "God knows what could happen to us. It ain't fair for me to not give you an answer before leaving for three years, it wouldn't be... I don't know."

Silence erupted. If Naruto was here, it was for Hinata and not for himself, so it was imperative if she desired to speak for her to do so. If all he talked about was about what it meant to him…

So far, she hadn't left. Sooner rather than later she was crying on his shoulder. He didn't even have the time to ask her what she thought of all that, to invite her to speak up again. Without flinching, he hugged her.

She questioned "why" so many times over his clothes, against them, seemingly against himself as if questioning him at heart, knowing that there was no answer to that. Naruto apologized and there she remained crying a bit. She didn't feel anger, predominantly, but sadness and impotence.

With a titanic effort, she spoke, felt she had to.

Little by little she explained what she felt for him, how those moments in their childhood when he protected her from those bullies meant the world to someone who had such a cold environment in her home. Little by little she expressed everything she had felt, everything that she couldn't bring herself to say before. How his drive inspired her, how she mirrors the will he had to, no matter the circumstances, care for those who she holds most dear, him being among them.

Naruto's sadness rose. Some things she was telling him will forever prevail in his mind. He couldn't recall someone being so kind to him, ever. They barely knew one another, rarely shared time, yet it seemed that certain instances among the few remained cherishable in her mind.

Naruto briefly questioned if he was making a mistake, if he couldn't fall for her, only for a simple answer with one name to resonate within his head. 'This is for the best', he thought, convincing himself.

Three years in the shinobi world seem to be long and worth enjoying without the wonder of an answer that you so blatantly want.

They didn't talk for very long, just long enough. Having already separated from him, Hinata stood up, almost silently claiming for them to go back, for her to have some time alone.

She recalled Kurenai and her words. She told her that one of the better things we can all do, should do, in life is love, not unconditionally of course, although that's not something we have that much control over. We might fight our battles and lose some, but it's the most valiant and wholesome way to live. She dared her to confess and warned her it may hurt. Now the Hyūga could confirm that. "There will always be another one, Hinata," Kurenai told her, Hinata being young and solely focused, seriously questioned that.

"Hinata… I. The second you are ready for us to meet each other, for us to have a relationship in which you are not hurt by what you at first want it to be, the day you want to do that, please knock on my door because that will make me the happiest man in the block." Claimed Naruto with an honest smile. Claiming this with an unconscious, selfish hope of inviting her to remain in his life.

After all, she had said to him, how could he not?

"Not in the world?" Questioned Hinata, smiling too, invitingly amidst tears.

"That I will be as soon as we either go to Ichiraku or you invite me to train with you," Naruto responded, the before mentioned smile not leaving his face.

They nearly reached the entrance to her clan's compound. Hinata stopped Naruto for a second, putting her hand upon his chest, wiping one tear of her eye.

"Can I at least get one last souvenir?" She asked, looking down before smiling a bit. Those were the first words she uttered where she didn't stammer a bit.

Naruto nodded and only said, "for sure".

In a move of boldness, unlike her usual self, she kissed him on the lips to Naruto's bewilderment and surprise.

It was a sad, not desperate endeavor. Within his lips Hinata tried to find what her mind had drawn for her for years, the extent of a wish that was to last till the dawn of both their times and that instead, was a one-time thing that will end by the time she parted ways with him, relieving him of her brief grasp. A one only silent representation of something she so desired and that was to be in her mind for much longer.

When her lips left his, so did the red colors of her face, all being deposited with him. She met his eyes. Naruto was no expert in matters of the heart, but his ache when he could without a doubt see within her eyes he had broken hers. He could see her effort to leave things with a smile, for his sake rather than hers.

"I will keep your second kiss," Hinata said, smiling and bringing her hand to cover such a smile, in the process wiping her face. "Or your first kiss with a girl."

The blush drawn in Naruto's face. You couldn't catch a single non-red space.

"You remember that, ttebayo." Claimed Naruto, roughing the back of his head.

Just as she was about to enter the compound she looked back, now with an almost honest smile. If this was going to be the last time they talked for three years, she didn't want that last image to be one of sorrow or tears.

"Till we meet again, Naruto-kun," Said Hinata.

"Till then, Hinata". Naruto looked at her as she disappears and almost whisper an unconscious confession. "Thank you". For valuing him, caring for him, for those words. He did felt terribly sorry for the remaining of that week.

* * *

"Earth calling to Naruto, are you there? I repeat, earth calling to Naruto."

"Sorry, Ero-Sennin. No, I don't want to write anything," Responded Naruto as he shook his head, trying to go back to the present.

Jiraiya looked at the boy with curiosity, he would later ask him what happened with Yugito. Pondering also if when to confess to Naruto what really happened before. Who were the attackers and what enterprise laid behind them.

Naruto noticed his stare.

"Don't ask. I just have too many things on my mind," Naruto promptly answered before being bombarded with questions about why he was so moody right now. "I talked to him, she or it, whatever that fox is. He told the events of that day, point from point meeting many of the ideas you told me before."

"Oh." Muttered Jiraiya in response, understanding. "Any bright sides, things I should know?"

"I'm just angered at the moment, but I'm not clouded enough to not honestly confess that accidentally meeting Yugito might have been one of the best things to happen in my life, on this trip. I may have spoken with her only for a day, but she sure seemed like a remarkable woman." Exclaimed Naruto.

"Indeed," Jiraiya conceded, having read her profile.

Naruto looked at his sensei, threateningly, preconceiving that his statement was one of perversion rather than sincere admiration of something other than her physical features. Jiraiya raised his hands in defense.

After much argument…

"I talked both to her and her bijū, Matatabi. Learn a couple of interesting things outside their names. Many historic things that don't leave the previous generations in a good light, assuredly not the First Hokage," Naruto stated with a bit of bother. Almost all he had heard of him were his magnificent feats. "The Kyuubi is called Kurama, by the way. He seems to drive a soft bargain when making deals that involve us working together like you all seem to want us to."

"What did it ask for?" Asked Jiraiya before Naruto's tone and last words. He didn't have a clue about what it could be.

"Nothing outrageous. His other half," Naruto ended it there before pausing, before saying what that entailed. "Which requires me to perform that resurrection thingy with my father and to kill the man responsible for their deaths, an Uchiha." Naruto looked up, tired despite having just recently woken up. He went back to one main point. One shattered conviction. "You know what's the worst part?"

He brought both hands intertwined to his face, traveling up to his forehead where their path divided as he touched up the fringes that laid above it. Putting on his forehead protector and adjusting it.

"The worst part is that I have never been more convinced that we need to sort things out and work together than I am right now. After I tried to convince myself to never need his power, to grow without ever needing anything from him out of sincere despair."

Jiraiya beforehand was planning on telling Naruto about Danzo. How within their walls festered the biggest threat to the possibility of peace in the world. A complex monster that had no quarrel or problem with actions that were unscrupulously and horrendous. How he might have been a part of the invasion of Suna not even two years ago, even being responsible for Sasuke's current situation, allowing the boy to leave to Orochimaru... And many, many things more. After hearing the boy's reminiscence of the day before, not so much. 'Maybe for later' He thought.

"So yeah, right now I just wanna do whatever it is you say we must do and leave once in for all for Mount Myōboku," Directly stated Naruto.

"That must you mentioned is food, unless you want to eat insects all day, of course."

Naruto gulped and furiously negated with his head.

* * *

Somewhere unknown, projections rose in the middle of the darkness.

"So tell me again. How does it make any sense to not go for the jinchūrikis now that some of them are just are weak children? What are we to wait for, till they become a problem by themselves?" Said Hidan. His bloodlust and desire being as palpable as always, indiscriminately even if children were the targets. "I am not saying it for me, I don't have a problem with them, I'm saying it for Deidara here."

Deidara frowned, his ego didn't take mockery lightly.

"You lack awareness in ways you can't even comprehend. You ought to know that we are not ready. We have to gather more resources. Gather supplies, jutsus, and perfect the sealing technique, among many things. Don't you remember what happened with the Sanbi?" Added a tired Konan. It was one thing to bring this crew together, maintaining it was a whole other business.

"As far as I recall, we went in aid of Itachi and Jūzō and brought back the Mizukage's body while he was barely breathing. That's our part, that's my part. The otherworldly power that should seal them has to do with his eyes, not mine." Said Hidan, once again.

"We need all the power, the concentration, and the energy possible at our disposal to do this procedure. Not only that, but the subject has to survive long enough for us to subtract it. It's a question of balance and precision." Muttered the solemn voice of an unknown figure. "We have grown overconfident due to the inexplicable success we had with the Five-Tails."

"We have to make sure the bijū remain within their enclosure. If we weaken the seal and its host, the chances are they could escape, causing casualties if we can't subjugate them promptly. We have to hold the seal in place, being careful to not break it, and look out for the lingering health of the jinchūrikis," she raised her voice to point out the most important fact. "Were any of them to die promptly, before the process ends, and we would have to wait till those beasts reappeared. God knows when throwing off whatever plans we have scheduled." Added Konan, just to refute Hidan's simplistic view of the matter at hand.

"As Konan has stated, it's a complex matter. You all should know that by now. Were it to be simple, we would have two beasts instead of just one." Claimed solemnly Itachi.

"We were so close." Said in the background a frustrated Deidara, troubled to repeat that bothersome procedure, and that the three tails went into hiding. How could they lose track of something so massive?

"The boys can't survive through half of the sealing. Those kids, the Ichibi's, Nanabi's, and Kyuubi's hosts are barely even 15 according to our intel. Give or take. For all the things that went wrong with the three tails, us not being able to contain it in the last second, it to be in an impasse where it is neither seal within our grasp nor with its host, if that were to happen with the Nine-Tails, if we freed it, I could only see Itachi's eyes stopping it and I believe that to be a longshot. We cannot make that mistake. We either work a way to make sure they survive the procedure through some technique that erases the chance of them dying or we wait, search for another way. We will work on our plans and on the sealing techniques. Once we coordinate it and we are capable, we will go after the remaining jinchūrikis. Starting with the One Tail." Konan stated.

"While I do not completely agree with much of your statements, I guessed for now is our best option." Sasori conceded.

"Do we at least know where they are?" Itachi questioned.

"At this moment, we know of the site of most of them," Konan answered, unperturbed.

"Meaning?" Once again questioned the Uchiha.

"We have lost track of the Seven Tails and the Nine-Tails." She confessed.

"We will let them be for now," Stated the before-mentioned unknown figure. "Konan, Kakuzu, you come with me. There's a meeting that ought to take place and we cannot miss it."

* * *

"Ready?" Asked Jiraiya. "Care to do the honors", motioning to Naruto to go ahead.

"I guess I'm as ready as I could ever be." Answered Naruto, without a clue of what he had to be mentally prepared for.

He went through the well-known motions, hand signs, kneeling, and putting his slightly bloodied hand to the ground.

"Summoning jutsu."

Gamakichi appeared as planned, the doubt creeping in for the blonde. How were they gonna reach the mountain again?

"Naruto!" Saluted Gamakici.

"Hey there, Gamakichi. Long time no see! You have changed a bit." Mentioned Naruto at the site of a now somewhat bigger toad that was almost as big as him. Almost. Nothing compared to his father.

"What did you call me here for?"

"I actually told him to do so." Jiraiya stepped in. "Do us both a favor and tell Ma and Pa that we are coming, they already expect us, so you don't need to explain anything more."

"This is going to be fun". Said Gamakichi before banishing.

"Hey wait!" Naruto urged. "He just disappeared, now what?"

Naruto looked at his sensei. For some reason, he seemed to smirk. If time was as precious as he makes it out to be, as he had proclaimed it to be during this year of training, how could he on the brink of laughing when there was a delay, given that he had told him before that the trip will last a whole month and they had to make the most of it, with a clear sense of urgency?

Rather than shouting at him, Naruto raised both hands, pointing to the spot that Gamakichi just left, with an expression that demanded a very concise message: please explain.

"Here, catch." Claimed Jiraiya just as he threw Naruto two medium-size scrolls that his apprentice catches without a problem.

"Care to brief me. Why are you grinning so much?" Naruto questioned, annoyed.

"I'm just wishing I could go with you so I could watch your face," Jiraiya said, finally breaking and laughing to himself. "If I wasn't in such a hurry, oh man."

"What do you mean? How come I'm the only one that's going, didn't you just say we?" Naruto questioned.

"Well, I may have said we, Naruto, but I have an errand to make, so for a week, give or take, you will be there by yourself."

"What the hell are..."

In the blink of an eye, Naruto disappeared, leaving only a succinct trace of smoke. Jiraiya laughed more, conscious that he will pay for this later.

"You were saying" Jiraiya jokingly asked out loud to the ears of no one, putting a hand behind his ear as if it was only a matter of speaking louder.

* * *

"... you talking about, you perv... You... You old pervert," Naruto stammered at the end when he promptly caught sight of where he wasn't, by his sensei's side. Instead, here he seemed to be in what could only be "Mount Myōboku" as he just said, in disbelief.

"Indeed, it is, my boy."

Naruto had to look down. A second ago he was staring at Jiraiya in the eyes, for which he had to raise his sight. The instant after he was staring at quite the unique environment. The exuberant color, the giant leaves, the weird shapes and forms that some plants had, the toads upon them and the sheer number of all of them, an unquantifiable amount scattered all around in sight.

When looking for the source of those words, he had to look down to see two small, ought to be old by the looks of them, toads.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"We are the ones that summoned you." A thought creeps in the mind of Naruto, 'They can't be the great sage toads,' "My name is Shima and this old thing here is Fukasaku, my husband."

Naruto almost fell down. He expected both of them to be bigger than Gamakichi and Gamatatsu were if he had met them as almost tadpoles, or at the bare minimum, half their size.

Ma and Pa are how Jiraiya called them. In his words, they were ancient figures of great savvy and power, older than the time of the Shinobi.

Naruto almost fell down. He expected both of them to be bigger than Gamakichi and Gamatatsu were if he had met them as almost tadpoles, to say the least. Ma and Pa are how Jiraiya called them. Ancient figures of great savvy and power, older than the time of the Shinobi.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I have heard a lot about you," Said Naruto, extending his hand.

"Same here, Naruto-boy. Jiraiya has raved about you a bunch of times." Said Fukasaku, meeting his hand. "To be sincere, we were expecting you to arrive years from now, but it appears that your rate of growth has accelerated dramatically and you both have chosen a different schedule."

"Such hunger, it could only be invited by strong motives. Ain't it?" Claimed Shima.

"It is, Shima-san," Naruto agreed. Remembering the mocking tone that Jiraiya was using before directly laughing at his face. "A reversed summoning, huh? Never guessed you could do that."

He had no clue.

"How do you think Jiraiya-boy could come here regularly when he was younger? Younger than you are now." Fukasaku claimed in a goodwill manner. "Before we go any further, how about we don't get trailed off here and we guide you to where you are going to stay. We then eat and talk about what you will do in the months to come. Sounds good?"

"Absolutely. Please lead the way. Dattebayo," Naruto answered with a mind clouded by doubt about what this place will bring to his training. At least it seemed to be remote enough.

Naruto looked around at this huge and bizarre place. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before, even the waterfall they were approaching seemed out of touch with its counterpart in the "real world". Since when the water had a yellowish, brownish color. If it was even water.

"How many people have been here?" Asked the blond rhetorically, already guessing a one hand countable number.

"More than you imagine." Responded Gamakichi.

"Seriously?"

"Oh yes, many before you, absolutely in centuries past. Had you asked how many in the recent time, then the answer would be three, counting you." Fukasaku claimed. It's true that they had become a more secluded place. Sheltered.

"Ero-Sennin and my father." Naruto proclaimed with certainty. They had to be.

"Ero-Sennin?" Fukasaku muttered before falling on it. He started laughing along with Shima at the title. "A very fitting title to our beloved Jiraiya-boy."

They continued walking, not for long though. Naruto could already see a small construction, an inn, in the middle of this enormous place. It was funny, with the size of some toads that were in here, it couldn't help but be of these dimensions? Some of them couldn't fit a foot in there.

Naruto wondered what this step will mean for him. He had changed so much in the previous year.

By that, he didn't mean his physical attributes, his looks, his clothes, which did change, but him as a Shinobi. Everything started with a structured plan for him and a healthy diet for both his body and his mind, not the most eloquent and attractive thing to say.

He just wanted to measure up, up to the point when he could face what was heading his way and be strong enough to wear the armband with pride and grace. To measure up to it.

How was this trip to help him? He didn't know. He just trusted that it was going to, if Jiraiya, for all the nonsense he pulls off, grew up to be one of the best shinobis in the world thanks to training in this place, why couldn't he do the same, or do even better. Surpass him.

"Here we are Naruto-boy, let's get you settled while I make some food for us," Shima claimed.

Naruto's stomach aches and so did his whole self. Naruto despised the prospect ahead of eating insects, Jiraiya warned him about the food in this place from the standpoint of the reaction that Minato had when eating them. Jiraiya couldn't recall the first time he did that, so by now, he had grown accustomed rather than pleased with the idea. He warned Naruto to not decline them, not out of impoliteness, that too, but to gain the experience when in battle he had to gather food, proteins, therefore maybe insects.

His entire face turned purple without even smelling or seeing it.

He unpacked the staff he had. Fortunately, he travels light, with many of his things sealed. There weren't many shelves in this room, if any. He just put his things above his backpack and put it next to his bed. Everything as organized as it could be.

Before long, he heard a shout. Lunch was ready.

Naruto sat down and crumbled internally. Shima may have the most joyous and welcoming aura that Naruto could remember, yet that wasn't to lift his spirit as he stared at the plate before him.

"Itadakimasu," Said Naruto with the most impetuous tone that he could muster.

The rest of the group give their respective thanks and begin the feast with a voracious pace, eating full mouthfuls each time. Naruto just grabbed one and hoped it wasn't alive. 'I may be a Ramen guy, with things in stocks and stuff, but with this... I rather eat it when fried, then this could seem edible. Shrimpy my ass, this ain't gonna taste good, Ero-Sennin!' Naruto thought to himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shima looking at him, with a slimy worm slowly being sucked by her. With his chopsticks he picks up one, a caterpillar, bringing it to his mouth. As he bit a small portion, the worst thing happened to his dismay. 'It pulled! Oh god. This is disgusting'. Not only was it soft, but when biting it seemed to release a liquid from within. 'Don't puke, don't puke. I'm going to kill you, Ero-Sennin. One bite and I'm nauseous, I'm not gonna make it.'

He swallowed and smiled toward Shami, who did the same in return, motioning with her hand for him to continue, widening his obviously insincere smile. Naruto pretended to reach for another bite, just before pulling his best acting to the test, raising his head quickly, almost violently, as if he just remembered something. Searching for a question for one of them to answer while the hungry remaining toads ate whatever was on the table.

"What is the plan? You said you were gonna talk about it while we ate." Asked Naruto to Fukasaku, hoping for a sufficiently long answer that could make any of the presents in the table so bored and hungry, that they forget their manners and ate from Naruto's own plate.

"Impatient I see, well, we are going to train you in Senjutsu." Fukasaku expressed.

"Senjutsu?" Naruto's head tilted. He had never heard of that.

"How far have you gotten in Ninjutsu, my boy?" Asked Fukasaku.

"I mean, we train on it, mostly on my control. Time and time again, Ero-Sennin measured my progress with my capacity on performing the Rasengan one-handed now and my fluidity when trying new wind styles jutsus like 'Great Breach'. I am able to not waste so much chakra when performing them, unlike I did up to that point. I have not yet mastered shape or nature transformation, not enough to do the most complex of jutsus. So I don't know what to answer. We are like in a middle-tier, I guess. Enough to have learned some medium or simple jutsus, but not enough so I can develop one of my own."

"Oh, so wind is your affinity? How interesting. We can help you with that too Naruto, we are both wind style users." Stated Shima with a mouthful of whatever that was, grasshoppers maybe.

"Each thing at a time, Shima." Fukasaku protested at the rushed nature of that statement. They were here for one major and almost unique reason, till that one was mastered, nothing else mattered, nothing else to be taught in. "The challenge at hand is one that few people have accomplished. This ain't like ninjutsu, where you only manipulate your own chakra, your own physical and mental, or spiritual energy. Sage jutsu not only involves that, but you have to add chakra from the outside, call it nature energy if you want. Three sources, three perfectly aligned efforts at the same time in hopes of having capacities and abilities that you can't imagine from where you're at. It will enhance everything. Remember, requires the three things for Sage Jutsu."

Funny enough, Naruto was interested beforehand about this, but he asked with an ulterior hope to not die inside. Minutes later and he was spellbound with what the old man was claiming. So, both his teacher and his father learn that? He questioned in his mind. Such abilities had to be obtained with hardships, ones that he was ready to take head-on.

"I understand," Naruto stated, focused on understanding everything about it. "Where can you harvest this nature energy?"

"Everywhere, my boy. It remains everywhere."

Naruto needs it to see it in action. How could you harvest it? How long did it last? Was it an automatic thing, or you had to constantly and consciously gather it?

"How?" He asked.

"That I will tell you once you finish your meal. As soon as we clean this table and get to go outdoors, I will tell you anything you need to know." Said Fukasaku pointing at Naruto's meal.

Out of his trance Naruto noticed the food on the table had already banished despite the quantity, so he was the only one remaining, the one they were respectfully waiting for before they got up from the table. Which did nothing but raise the pressure he was under to eat it.

"Do all summons teach senjutsu?" Naruto asked with one aim in mind and two persons.

"No, as far as we know. There aren't many developed summons outside of three or four remote cases. They do rarely talk, much less develop an art of their own. They haven't evolved to interact with humans. Besides, with no arrogance on it, toads are different. You will see." Fukasaku claimed as he looked at the boy with wonder and pity, laughing at the inconsolable disgust the boy had for the food. All the humans that came to this place acted almost the same, yet many if not all were courteous enough to not protest and suffer in silence. He knew his wife enough to see that she too was enjoying it. Shima was merciless. "Why do you ask? Someone on your mind."

Amidst his struggle, he blurted out the names while looking at the plate and daring to pick something on it. "My two partners are with the other sannins. It is only logical that they too have the same contracts." As he rose it with his chopsticks, no longer was he free to eat it. Why the hell did he bring all that food with him for? He cried internally.

"Oh, so a new generation of legendary shinobi's is coming. How interesting." Shima stated with wonder towards the future.

After much chewing, Naruto chuckled. 'Yeah right,' He thought before unconsciously saying something out loud. "More like a cheap rip off, actually."

"How come?"

He had become the sole focus of attention. How to frame it?

"You know, a genin squad constituted too of two boys and one girl." Check. "One with innate talent, smarts, and capacity, blessed in our case with the Sharingan, something that Orochimaru wishes he was born with. Which honestly makes Sasuke more dangerous and me more uneasy." Check "The mention teme, who unlike his new sensei hasn't experimented for all I know with living comrades or killed innocents, but has too left the village, at a much younger age, and just like Ero-sennin I couldn't stop him." Check.

"Is he as bad as Orochimaru?" There was no room for comparing those two. "Hell no! My fear? That in the name of the goal that he's so fucking set on, solely on, he could be manipulated into doing or side look the acts of terror that Orochimaru is well known for." Naruto was venting for sure. It wasn't an angry but incredulous tone.

There was more where that came from.

"Who's next? Sakura-chan. Maybe the rare uniqueness on our fucking team. That would be if she too didn't have Baa-chan's character. They are both scary if you ask me. Like her, professional, focused, and brilliant minded. She ain't no Senju, she doesn't have the vast amounts of chakra the granddaughter of the First has, but that has never stopped her. Being the first one in our class. Among the better ranks the Academy has seen for a while."

Lastly, "And finally, me and Ero-sennin, differentiating us is..." Now that he thought about it. What did they have in common? At this moment he couldn't point it out, not even their loud character, their goofiness... The many, many things they had in common.

Nor could he point out their difference suddenly.

It took him a minute before he uttered anything at all. He ended up pointing out the basics, going for the few things that they for certain shared, elemental to who they were. That he suddenly forgot and wondered how that could happen, given that it was an intrinsic part of what defined them.

"Rather, what we have in common is our goals. Bringing back the paled dark-haired bastards that we both looked at with care, thinking of them as friends, and envy at their prowess to do almost anything, without killing them, to a village they don't care for, for people who don't want them there and to bring the easy task of world peace to a rage-filled world."

Everyone was choosing what feeling to present while looking at Naruto, the only one he didn't like was pity "And the cherry on top, we both like, for I can't speak for that pervert and called it love, our girl teammates and surprise, surprise, in this sea of originality, both our feelings are not meet."

Naruto looked up. His rant wasn't one of rage or anger. The tone was mockingly at the absurdness of it all. He was having a problem grasping the thought that history was to repeat itself, that it was a continuous and repetitive process. Or a Loop.

"Sorry," Naruto claimed as he smiled apologetically and continued with his food, having almost finished it.

"Well, I can tell you that in the Ryūchi Cave, we have known the snakes to teach it. Once every thousand full moons. I doubt they will teach your friend about it, they don't seem too keen on sharing it. They don't know how to work together with their summoners. And for your other friend, the Sakura girl, for what we know, Katsuyu-chan doesn't teach it. Honestly, I think she can't." Shima stated.

"I mean, at least Orochimaru went to the caves, as far as I recall, Tsunade hasn't been to the Shikkotsu Forest yet," Fukasaku said with certainty. Upon looking at Naruto, he saw a change of demeanor, unbeknown of what it was, given the case, he guessed, "Don't take pity on her, my boy. I have seen Tsunade in action many times, nothing frail about what she's about to become. She will be fearsome as it is," He stated, reminiscing the great battles they fought in the shoulders of Jiraiya, by her side.

"How come Baa-chan doesn't have it? She also has extreme levels of chakra," Asked Naruto, looking at his food.

"I don't know. And anyway, back to the weight you took out of your back." Shima pointed out for Naruto to blush in response, he hadn't known them for more than an hour and he was venting and dropping this on them like they were to care. "We can't judge, Naruto. We don't know you yet, but while you may have common points with your sensei, it means very little. You at least have the knowledge of his failures, seemly as you believe yours to not be so distant. All we have heard about you from Jiraiya-boy is that you have your father's stubbornness and your mother's fierce character. Five seconds in and we could all tell you had that perverted man-child drive. You may have failed or had more trouble with basic stuff at the start, more than Jiraiya-boy did when he accidentally ended up here, but it shortly matters given where you are at now. Don't forget you have different paths too. In the training regard, you can follow the path that Jiraiya crafted years ago, with a difference in capacities very graspable when you stop and try to quantify it." Claimed Shima.

"Very much so. Your father always loved to quote this phrase," Fukasaku's voice turned to a mimicking tone to no avail, given how Naruto couldn't tell what his father's voice was like, so he couldn't judge how truthful it was. "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants. That is what he always said when we complimented him. He was not like Jiraiya, the tries that our dear boy needed, tries that translated in an easier path to the generation to come, thanks to his found knowledge. Your father was the legacy of Jiraiya and the natural progression of Tobirama, without the second's almost nonexistent moral compass, perfecting almost everything in his repertoire except the Second's ability with water style. Now the question is who are you to become, given that what you hold will make you unique as a shinobi."

Naruto knew that if any of his parents were to resemble Tobirama in that aspect was his mother. The moment he split the chakra paper out of his hand and upon the surprise of Jiraiya, he asked him what his parents' affinities were. Water was his mother and lighting his father.

Jiraiya told Naruto that he thought his father upon a premise, upon the premise that his brilliant mind could surpass or redo what the greatest one did in his time. That being Tobirama, a title that many people, Minato, Jiraiya himself, Sarutobi, and Orochimaru, called him by. Easy to understand, having invented the current shinobi village system, the ranks, and the incredible amount of techniques that remained within the secret scroll.

Needless to say, Jiraiya had great aim.

With Naruto things were different and Jiraiya pushed him into mastering an art that his father didn't bother to work very hard on, despite his lighting affinity. Wind in Naruto's case. Implanting the challenge in Naruto to combine his own wind, with the Rasengan, something that no one did before, something that to date Naruto couldn't achieve and it wasn't for not trying.

"Both compensated what they lacked by learning what you are about to boy," Fukasaku exclaimed.

"How old was he when he came here?" Asked Naruto, meaning his father.

"Not much older than you are now. Maybe a year or so later, after he reached Jonin status and his team split and went to their different paths." Shima responded, trying to pinpoint when that was exactly.

Naruto recalled that by Jiraiya's wishes, his father couldn't become Jonin till he turned 15, having Jiraiya also confessed that Minato could have been in that rank by the Leaf's standard at least a year or more before that. Naruto wasn't far off reaching that age, a genin still.

They continued talking as they rose from their seats to clean the table. Shima asked Naruto trivial things before they went head-on into the training part. Wanting to get to know a bit of the boy. Jiraiya said he was the chosen one, yet nor she nor this boy, apparently, believed in destiny so much. That was an endeavor she left for both her husband and the elder toad.

She was not at ease with putting so much weight on the shoulders of someone so young, someone with such a burden. Under what premise?

"All right, I guess that is all. Good luck, Naruto," Kindly said Shima as all of them marched outside the house, not leaving much time for digestion. Not like Naruto had much to do. He was going to be sick, anyway.

"Thank you, Shima-San."

"Let's go Naruto." Hurried Fukasaku.

Naruto walked out with both Fukasaku and Gamakichi. As he approached the fountain, the one surrounded all around by stone toads with a concentrating pose, he saw Gamabunta in the distance monitoring him accompanied by two other gigantic toads.

Naruto supposed that this wasn't a recurrent instance, a person who wasn't Jiraiya to be on this, you could call it, paradise.

A trippy paradise, but a seemingly paradise altogether.

Seen as Gamabunta didn't approach both him and his son, Naruto nodded rather than flung his hand around to get a response. To call for him, knowing he had already seen him.

A giant amount of smoke came out of his spike, acknowledging him.

"Now that you know what sage jutsu is, we are gonna take the next step. I was about to demonstrate to you its perks, but I have been told that your hunger doesn't come from seeing the end product necessarily and that you are impatient sometimes. This ain't something you can't rush without thinking my boy, so I will show you once you understand. Come with me." They took two steps to the fountain.

Fukasaku's hand pointed Naruto to sit near the fountain. What would occupy the next 10 minutes of Naruto's life was a warning and a cautionary tale of what he was about to do, and how to go about it. "Becoming one with nature", both told him. Fukasaku explained how.

How to gather it. How to sense it and absorb it. It was all complex, but rather than remaining dumbfounded and pretending he understood, he asked.

Naruto understood that he had to remain still, that it was within calmness and steadiness from a position that warranted the possibility to focus mainly on that one thing that he could extract it. How still remained a mystery.

A year before he had quite the trouble with grasping the two sources of power within him and now he was to gather one he had never felt for he never searched for, unlike the two mentioned before. He scratched his head.

"We animals can only appreciate and sense nature's energy when we stop our own movements, we synchronize ourselves with the flow of nature," Fukasaku continued. "To be absolutely still..."

Naruto didn't have a problem with understanding that. This wasn't a problem of theory, but one resolved with practice. For the first time in his life, he was dying to sit down and search for this source of power. Eventually, Fukasaku became repetitive. Naruto was unsure if Fukasaku thought he didn't understand or what. Rather for a moment he got lost and looked at the statues and openly laughed.

He found it funny that instead of a modest banner, a warning sign, where they put the stance he had to take for this training, like positions in yoga, they needed dozens of giant ones doing the same. A bit overboard, he thought as he chuckled.

"Something funny, my boy?" Asked Fukasaku. Seeing Naruto drift off.

"No, not at all," Naruto quickly put.

"Give me your hand, my boy," Fukasaku said as he extended his.

Naruto quickly conceded. Fukasaku upped his sleeve and spread a bit of the oil of that particular waterfall. Amused. Naruto was no smart mouth, but he thought to ask jokingly if his skin was so bad, ashy, that there was a hurry to put lotion, oil, in it.

He wouldn't be laughing in his head for long.

"What the hell!" Naruto exclaimed, surprised and in a rush, falling on his ass and crawling backward. The arm where the elder poured the oil had suddenly morphed, transformed. Looking at himself in the fountain, he gasps as it was not only his arm and hand but his face too. His pupils turned frog-like.

They took him out of the nightmare by a smack on the head.

"Itte. Itte!" Naruto claimed, bringing his hands to his head. Looking to the oil underneath him, he saw his features come back to normal. "What the hell. I'm back, thank god." Caressing his fully human face. Well, fully, fully, he had whiskers.

 **"Sad actually, it was quite the upgrade. You never were much to look at,"** Kurama said out of the blue, awakened from the disorder in the chakra of his host. It was quite a rush and a certain danger.

Naruto didn't bother to respond, he just looked at Fukasaku, utterly in disbelief over what just happened.

"This oil attracts nature energy. This was just three drops worth of it. If you can't control this power, you will transform into a frog. It's a matter of perfect balance, like nature herself, as power ought to be. You may be used to controlling the energy you have inside..."

 **"Yeah, right."** Pointed correctly a certain bijū.

"..., given how you used it regularly for ninjutsu, yet you can survive a bit of imbalance, of imprecision here. The margin of failing here is much smaller than that. Even your sensei hasn't perfected it. When he uses it he grows certain features, unlike the ones he has now." Images appeared in Naruto's head. "You will see it when you face him. Less control could mean death." Naruto gulped. "You can't use just a little ounce of this power either, it won't work."

Fukusaku was trying to make the boy understand, to be psych up. "Gather too much and you will turn, a process that can't be reverted. You just took a bit, a bit that could be repaired and controlled with this Baton I have. The thing I just hit you with, beating the nature energy out of you." Fukusaku paused for a second. "Remember when I told you many came in the past?"

"Yeah."

"Well, many didn't leave," Fukasaku said as he pointed to the statues that Naruto had just laugh at.

"Don't tell me they are..." Naruto grew wary. This got real, really fast.

"Yeah. Many who previously tried and failed." Gamakichi affirmed.

'So this is the catch? Not that funny now,' Thought Naruto. "I see."

"You understand now, my boy? This is not a laughing matter, whatever is ahead of you, just concentrate on it now as motivation, as the force that pushes you to take this step. After it, erase everything that ain't focusing on the moment, your fears, and everything else, everyone else. Am I understood?" Fukasaku claimed in hopes for Naruto to get it.

Naruto nodded. Ready to do this regardless of how scared he presently was. Motivated too, tough.

"You better, I don't want you turning to one of these. The size of them is but a matter of chakra, I don't want to know how much of the landscape you will occupy with both chakras," Gamakichi divulged, taking the piss at Naruto as if the decoration of this part of the landscape was the matter at hand here. Many of them were just Gamakichi's ancestors.

"That's what bothers you?" Asked Naruto confounded. How kind was the sentiment?

"So, what do you say, Naruto-boy, are you truly ready?" Fukasaku asked with fire in his eyes, a fire and a drive that Naruto reproduced as he nodded, eager to rise and surpass those who came before him to this place.


	4. Meanwhile in Konoha...

Not even 5 months since Naruto and Jiraiya left...

Tsunade was about to go home. She had just finished her daily training routine with Sakura, and the only thought that crept into her mind was to once in for all to go home. To approach her bed after another tiresome day. Her Hokage worthy bed.

How did she and Shizune make time in their schedule to train those two girls was a wonder. Meaning Ino. They didn't even bother to count the hours they worked per day, their labor hours. They wanted to remain a bit ignorant of it to shy away from depression.

Tsunade hoped that her teaching Sakura wouldn't lead to a row of little teenagers hoping to knock on her door in order for her to teach them too. She did indeed develop the whole principles of their modern medical ninjutsu, making a conscious effort in the past to share it and teach it, writing journals and giving lessons on her own original subject. So she knew what that road meant. 'Maybe after leaving the mantle to someone else, but definitely not now' She concluded, exhausted.

Lately, despite how many things were happening under her careful watch, the chief thing that was bugging her mind were those two knuckleheads. It saddened her she would not see them for so long still. It felt like ages since they left.

Her job just made everything go fucking slower.

Once again, back to the bed. Here she was, hopeful for the feeling of finally resting upon it. Begging that nobody spoils….

"Tsunade-Sama!" Called for her an ANBU member, accompanied by a member of her hospital staff.

'For the love of my fucking antecessors. What now! Can't someone rest in this godforsaken place!' Yelled internally a tired Hokage, resenting the dream-like picture his grandfather had painted this title to be.

"What is it?" Asked cordially Tsunade.

"She has awoken." Answered the medic.

"She?" Who the hell was it supposed to reference that she? Tsunade required a reminder, for she could feel herself losing memory over what she had for launch or even what she taught Sakura an hour ago. Between her focus on what will happen tomorrow and how exhausted she was, she needed more specificity.

"Who?" Asked Tsunade, feeling incapable of going farther than a monosyllable.

"The shinobi from the sound, Lady Hokage." Added the ANBU. 'Oh right,' remembered the Kage.

"Alright," Tsunade looks towards the masked individual. "Bring Anko and Kurenai, tell them to meet me outside her room, immediately," The second after nodding, the ANBU disappeared.

Tsunade told Shizune to go rest, that she would take care of this without her help. Following her staff member. They didn't turn around towards the hospital she left almost a minute ago, but rather took the direction that leads to the intelligence headquarters.

It wasn't long before they arrived. Stepping in front of her subordinate for no questions to be asked, to be led through. Without being asked for a name or a pass. One perk of being Hokage? To erase those bureaucratic nightmares, elude some protocol mandated tedious waits.

Stepping on the reception, the few faces that remained, guards mostly and some people ready to go to rest, waiting for those who would replace them, the night shift (for there was one in most of the professions, either military or medically related), turned to look at her. Amongst those was Ibiki, who vowed his head in recognition and with his right arm stretched pleaded for her to follow him in the direction he was pointing. This place was sneakily and unexpectedly large, giving its underground facilities, so it took quite the time to, among such a labyrinth, found the door they were looking for.

Inside it, there was what you could stereotypically conceive as an interrogation room. A giant space where on one side remained a table for the questioning and another room for those who wanted to be shielded from the look of the interrogated while capable of seeing him or her while listening to everything. Only that it was partly changed. Rather than a table, they filled the room with a bed and equipment from the hospital. The ones that were used for people in a coma.

Appropriate to this case.

Tsunade argued against this. Just as she was about to order to take the prisoners to the hospital instead, with the thought of appointing two ANBU to protect each one, an advisory voice made her change her mind. The hospital wasn't a safe place, and while neither was this thanks to some secretive ties the village had with Orochimaru, it was a safer bet. That was months ago, and one more lingering survivor ago.

"It's going to be tough. We will put in place the contingencies for when she is fully awakened. It can't be the most pleasant sight to wake up to," Tsunade pointed out rationally.

"With the injuries they both sustained, being fatal for him, it's quite the wonder that her physical health is at the level it is right now." Answered Moriko, the girl that till now was referred to as "member of her staff."

Tsunade didn't bother to look at Moriko. Through the glass, she was staring at the, for now, sleeping prisoner. She was already informed that there was no panic, no violence yet. The prisoner just seemed to move and briefly showcase conscience.

"You said to inform you only once she was awake." Said straightly Moriko, pleased with herself and the results of her work.

They heard someone knock on the door, appearing both women Tsunade had asked for. Rather late, to be honest, but seeing Kurenai's eye bags, Tsunade thought there wasn't much of a point in telling them off for doing something she wishes she was already doing. Sleeping once in a blue moon.

Both vowed, Anko immediately went to the glass, fully aware and brief from the beginning in what had happened. Kurenai, antagonistically, had not a single clue of what she was doing here. Tsunade stretched her arm and opened her palm, silently asking for Moriko to give her the prisoner's medical reports.

The moment she did so, Tsunade ordered her to leave.

"You can leave now, Mayumi. Go watch the patient" Stated Tsunade. The called woman, wrongly named, knew perfectly who she was referring to despite her error.

She walked out silently, not without screaming in her mind to at least whisper to the Hokage that her name was actually Moriko, not whatever name she just called her. She understood that if anyone could do so with an honest excuse was the Hokage, but if she was about to enter a room with a sound dormant villain, the least she… Whatever.

Once she left and with the door closed, Anko wondered once again. Every time she ended up here through the last months, she always asks herself what was the history that resonated beyond this glass. How Orochimaru almost destroyed another life and how were they to plan their next steps. She was entrusted with great responsibility, given how she was beyond doubt the fittest for this matter. Having been in and escaped his grasp. It would be hard, but she could manage. Tsunade turns towards the confused Kurenai and gives her the medical history.

"Here," Tsunade said as she hands it to her. "Anko knows everything about this case, given how she's in charge. Her name is Tayuya as far as we know, according to Shikamaru's report. She was one of the many shinobi they fought to bring the Uchiha back. Both she and her large friend survived the skirmish with our team. By a miracle, I must say." Their odds... "An Anbu team found them and brought them here, where we could heal them. She was the only one to pull through. Once conscious, we will question her. Given how many of Orochimaru's puppets are tied to him by fear and the lack of chance, our method to approach her will be the empathic one, accompanied by someone who knows a bit of the situation at hand."

Immediately, Kurenai looked at Anko worriedly. The scars that Orochimaru left her... Didn't heal. She could see it in her friend. 'Are you ready for this Anko?' She wondered in the back of her head while seeing Anko lost in her world, not taking her eyes off the girl.

"We believe she's between 15 and 17 years old. Outside of that, she's a complete unknown. We are to be careful with our every move. Anko is to be her supervisor. Where you come into the question is in her area of expertise." Tsunade claimed next to Kurenai as she pointed to a part of the report where it figured. Way below Kurenai's eyesight, as the red-eyed woman was reading the whole thing.

"Genjutsu," Kurenai said as she read Shikamaru's report. While a bad storyteller, the abilities he wrote she showcased prove to be quite impressive. She herself couldn't do something so complex at such a young age. Tsunade nodded. "I fail to see how I fit into this, Tsunade-Sama."

This had been long in the making… Yet, Tsunade wasn't so sure about it. Motioning with her head, she invited Kurenai to walk alongside Anko.

"Maybe in the short term you have no place in this and we are getting ahead of ourselves. But, without cluelessly hoping for miracles, rather, relying upon a carefully planned and studied process, we hope to add her to our ranks." Kurenai looks skeptically at Tsunade and the words she just utters. It implied her part and role in this, "Being the info, the priority and the primary focus of this endeavor."

"Do you really think we will get far more than the info, Tsunade-Sama?" If they even got to that point "I mean, if the Sound was unpleasant, waking up with Ibiki," 'with his menacing features,' they all thought, "standing next to you or in an interrogator room kind of setting. I mean… It isn't very welcoming," said Kurenai.

"I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that, Kurenai, we will have to see. The alternatives sadly in their majority are mainly unpleasant ones. We will see," Tsunade claimed as she took a last glance at Anko before leaving both of them alone. Finally, going home.

* * *

In the present….

Hide behind an oak tree was a purposely slow breathing shinobi. Trying her best not to be noticed, to not be heard, despite how fast-paced her tired body ought to be mouthing, she remained almost silent, paced. Humming rather than groaning as the pain reigned all over her.

Before she could react, three senbons landed above her head, inches away.

She ducked the next and most precise tandem heading her way. Time to run!

Despite the fast pace she managed, she could already guess that this way she couldn't lose her trackers. Looking back, she could see her foes losing distance, getting closer and closer. Jumping over a tree branch, she gathered what forced she had and threw the kunais she had left in her holder.

None hit the enemy, the sound of metal colliding with metal, with what ought to be another kunai only rumble once, for the other felt silent and where place still in the forest. Tired to no avail, she was to regroup with her partner if she was to have a chance of getting out of here. The forest wasn't deep enough in their surroundings, neither was she at a necessary distance to lose whoever was chasing her in such a brief span. She runs towards their meeting point. 'It ought to be in sight by now. Come on,' was the thought resounding in the back of her head. Before she could lose hope, in the distance, a distinctive color over the homogenous, green, brown.

A shade of pink hair.

Her body being independent of her brain, out of instinct ducked once again and fell to the ground as another kunai just went inches away from her back. As she landed, the figure that was pursuing her reached her and began a close-range attack.

A punch landed her against the trunk, groaning at the pain she reacted rather than acted, for she couldn't keep up. Both hands rose so she could stop the hand with a kunai aimed at her head, driving it upwards, marking the tree she rested her back upon. The only way to counterattack was to aim to the knee, she thought, for she was clearly outmatched. A lucky break or injury were the few plans she believe would get her out of this.

Predicting it, her attacker not only eluded that blow but managed to hit her support foot, the clean footwork and coordination behind that were precise and elegant, driving her to the ground with one had in her chest, helping the momentum that drove her there, if it was a weapon, she would already be dead.

Panting, she tried to hold the shoulder of her foe with both her legs, so she could at least turn the tide, incapable of applying any pressure, for she didn't have forces left. She was instead lifted off her feet and thrown away. Like a toy.

Tired and yearning to be everywhere but here, she could see out of one of the monster's sleeve a snake crawling out and moving towards her. Hissing and moving at a slow pace, as savoring her terror and dread. Its head rose and just as it seemed to strike, she did the only thing she could at this point in the battle.

"I yield!" Shouted Ino, closing her eyes.

The snake in between seems to disappear, almost immediately, in the space-time where she had her eyes closed, praying for mercy. Looking up, what mere sunlight managed to get past the trees, was covered by the figure that was before her, standing imposingly. None other than Miratashi Anko.

Showcasing everything but happiness, more contempt.

"Get up" Ordered Anko, not offering her hand for aid.

Ino almost couldn't. She was too sore. Thankfully, the angry rather than usually playful stare of Anko was motivation enough. Almost on the verge of coughing something, Ino betting on blood, her new and absolutely different approach minded sensei, waited for her to stand without stopping the eye contact.

"No matter how bad this was, answer this, would you have proceeded differently, was Sakura to be meddling with healing someone else, another team member?" The tone behind Anko's question almost leads to what ought to be the answer.

Through managing her breathing and all, a seemly rational question was not what she hoped. Right now, Ino didn't have the answer.

What was she to say? She knew that the answer was no, but couldn't reason why. Fully aware that Anko would ask her to develop an argument the moment she utters one of those binary possibilities.

"Not only did you not lose me, but you lead me straight to your partner," Anko claimed, with both hands on her hip. "You didn't know Shizune went ahead to handle Sakura, so for all you care, we were both on your trail, only focused on you." In Anko's mind, there was no excuse, nor age and inexperience for this. "Never go directly for your partner in a situation of this kind. If you are both, if your team as a whole is so unmatched, both in skill and number, think!"

As Anko said that she arched her back so she got to Ino's eye level, pressuring her into realizing that what she failed to grasp was inexcusable. "Go past her close enough for her to hear you as you throw a kunai or smoke for all I care. Some shinobi squads have whistles, which are not subtle but in disarray many things aren't, others throw smoke or signals, something in the sky, leave an explosive tag so she doesn't have the possibility of not hearing you, maybe by some miracle you hit some of your enemies. Do so, so then the tables turn and someone thinks for you as you only have to duck, as the bait. Don't look for an exit by yourself, because if you do and she remains on their trail. You may leave sakura hanging, becoming an easier target than you were, since the momentum is leading her straight to them. At times desperation will drive you outside of this notion. In those moments you ought to trust her to plan something, create a distraction that will give you the time to escape, the time to regroup, and plan something. To have the chemistry or the awareness to diverse their attention among many other options. While there's not a step-by-step course or protocol on how to do this, you have to at least rationalize some things instantly. If she was healing someone, you are never to approach her while you are the sole focus of the pursuit. Are we clear? Not even if that means your death, because if you do at your current level you will grant them theirs. If they are critical, then you will do so no matter your capabilities, even if you're the Hokage in line."

Ino with both hands on her knees, bent for she almost couldn't breathe and stand, looking sideways to Sakura, who too was defeated and getting lectured by Shizune. She nodded, things went from 0 to a 100 real fast.

She didn't know of Anko before, two months later, rather, the twenty minutes after starting training with her and Ino already knew she won't forget her in what remained of her life, to think she had still half a year more with this specimen before going back to train under the tutelage of Asuma, she was looking forward to a break and training with her clan so she had her hours cut with this bitch, as she sometimes called her.

When not playful and teasing, Anko is deadly and means business.

"Realize, Ino, that in this kind of skirmish, it is in the retreat or where, due to the situation, the structure falls and you are to battle with your squad dispersed, that the danger rises and more deaths occur. Asuma and your father will ensure you learn your duties regarding your clan inherited abilities, but for the time being you're under my tutelage, you will learn what life is in these kinds of extreme environments, were venturing into another one's mind will grant your death. For no one but your cognizant and present self can ensure your survival. The Yamanaka name might not sound compatible with the immediate front line, but at times you will be forced to Ino, so never limit yourself to the step by step ruling your father preaches you. You ought to learn things outside of the endogamic teachings of your clan." Said Anko as she walks towards their training companions the second after ending.

Both younglings rested on the floor, not having any profound injuries, listening to Shizune's recommendation, as she healed them both, starting with Ino.

"I'm famished, let's go get something to eat," Proposed Anko, denoting a clear smile and a case of extreme personality disorder.

"I'm sorry girls, I can't," Shizune apologized, as she ended healing Sakura. "You ought to be ready to go".

"Thanks," Uttered Sakura, feeling much better.

Anko looks at her and smirks, wondering. Having caught up with a recurring theme during these last months. A certain dark-haired woman could be seen from time to time, smiling under the gaze of a certain brown, long-haired individual. Anko being her usual self couldn't help but inquire teasingly.

"Planning on seeing someone?" Asked Anko, resting her hand on Shizune's shoulders.

"Do you think I will refrain from answering that question? It's not like I hide it. Like we hide it rather," Answered Shizune, amused, smiling sideways at her newly acquainted companion, not being affected by her teasing side.

"Gotta say, loving this confident, assertive version of you. Who knew it would take him to stutter for you to take the mantle," Claimed Anko, honestly.

"What is she talking about?" Sakura wondered out loud, unbeknown to her, things were changing in the dating pool. Her friend, on the other hand, has always been on the radar for this kind of thing.

"Shizune-san asked Iruka-Sensei out, they are dating!" When Ino said that out loud, clapping hands and smiling wickedly and all, it bemused Sakura for certain. She didn't picture it.

The wonder went immediately to Tsunade. Did she judge or threaten whoever approached Shizune with romantic intentions? If so, poor Iruka-sensei. Went on Sakura's head.

"You know Anko, maybe instead of dealing with your banter, I could hook you up with someone so he's the recipient. There are a couple of verified desirable men wondering if you will go out with them," Said Shizune, not looking out for any of those people, the poor bastards if she accepted a date... She chuckled.

"Who? If not absolutely too mental or already taken, the men that remain in this village have all a stick so far up their ass that they can't wear hats." Claimed Anko, all the participants of this conversation couldn't help but laugh both at her claim, and that too mental was something that came from Anko's mouth of all people.

"So the Hokage is then" Answered wittily Shizune.

"Funny" Anko simply answered.

Four hours they spent at the Death Forest, becoming a habit at least in Ino's morning routine from time to time. Ino concurred with something that her mother said. Maybe she needed this. Maybe becoming in touch with all this outside of comfort kind of shock therapy, embodied in the hard training she was endeavoring was a good thing. That was a thought that crept in Ino's mind rather than a fact, for the partly inhuman treatment and danger of her training wouldn't allow her to call this as such. She was already introduced to many things, who would have known the side effects that Sasuke's treason and retrieval try, as a wake-up call, would have on all of them.

Among the first things Anko put her through, many were physical, where she didn't exactly live to Anko's standard, Anko herself not refraining from telling her how surprising that was given how low it was, having seen her in action during the exams. After beating her ass, Anko ordered Ino to accompany her to a store, where she bought a mesh, like the one you could see the jōnin wear. Ino could recall her sensei telling her that was the minimum of clothing she had at least to wear, noticing her not having one, not one that covers her entire torso. Anko couldn't care if aesthetics remained among Ino's priorities. "Matched it with the hell you want, but you cannot be not wearing this" Ino could recall Anko saying. Training and eating habits change in a blink on an eye, having some stupidity of her beaten down by facts and coaction. A process that Ino's friend, Sakura, got through in her own manner.

Obviously, they weren't the only ones in growing...

* * *

Meanwhile, Team 8 was training under the careful and judging eye of their sensei, Kurenai Yuhi, for this was a special point in their training. A year had passed since the Chunin exams in which they all got to the third round but were almost in their entirety wiped out before they could ever fight in the finals.

Shino lasted the longest, and to Kurenai's judgment, he could have without a doubt be made, deservingly so, a chūnin.

His smarts, the control over his abilities, his long-range repertoire... Mining a few weaknesses, mainly hand to hand combat, a flaw he was aware of and put the effort to correct, he was objectively one. He did beat Kankuro afterward in a war setting, so judging fairly, he would have faced Temari on the semifinal, a battle that Kurenai thought he would lose without a doubt. His foe in that scenario was older, more experienced, smarter, and in a battle where both their strengths were the same, the long rage battle, Shino would have fallen to her Wind Style. It was an experience that in honesty Kurenai wished Shino had, to fight someone like that would have enlightened him in ways he could not grasp.

Notwithstanding, she was happy with the result, not only because they got so far despite being that young, but because they weren't raised to another status within the ranks, separating, in this case, Shino from the team from time to time till both Hinata and Kiba got to that level.

All the senseis, meaning Kurenai herself, Asuma, and Gai, had agreed to enlist them in the next exams in Suna.

By then there was certainty among them that they would be ready. They had some logistics to sort out, like trying to ensure that Sakura filled the spot left by Shikamaru, but they were set on it.

The matter at hand right now is that they had 5 months till the exams and that if they passed Kurenai's eye test today, they won't be training together for the next three months unless they do it by their own accord.

Having to deal with clans was a pain, for they had their endogenic ways. Ways that they ensured were passed on, meaning that Kurenai had to agree almost by force, not that she quarreled with the idea, with three of the most important clans from the village, the Hyūga, the Inuzuka, and the Aburame, that she would leave the training of their spawn in their hands for a while. It was a logical thing to do, Kurenai not being from a clan herself, just disliked how uptight, judgmental, and imperative some of them were.

Right now both Shino and Hinata were attacking both Akamaru and Kiba, obeying Kurenai's order.

Of them all, Kiba was the one that worried her the most. His demeanor on the battlefield was the soft spot in the team.

This one wasn't a judgment on his fight against Naruto. Nobody expected that spark of brilliance from someone better described as a dopey goofball, but from a greater sample. Kiba didn't showcase polyvalence and unlike others, he had to care for another member no matter what, Akamaru. Kurenai was hoping to see what he did under pressure from shinobis with better abilities than he had, hoping that he wouldn't charge and would make a plan on the run.

One day, Kiba and Akamaru were using their Fang Passing Fang jutsu. The problem was that there wasn't a train of thought behind it. Kiba used the smoke bomb against a Hyūga, an effort that exemplified within seconds the problem at hand with his reasoning.

Kurenai sighed, she didn't know what to do with him and she doubted that Tsume could either, despite the great respect she had for her, that he had done that knowingly showcase how clueless he was, how he resorted to only brute strength and how thoroughly dumb he could become when tired.

Right now, though, he was using his Wolf Fang Over Fang and his partners were dodging him with difficulty. Kurenai could already guess he was running out of chakra, that he had not over 5 strikes with that jutsu, so she wondered what his last move could be.

Slowly, she understood one thing. He was driving them close together in the open field. His strikes seem to have the intention of using the fear they had to get hit by his dangerous technique to bring them closer so he didn't have to face Shino from long range, the thing was, how to deal with someone so superior to him in hand to hand, meaning Hinata.

Before he ran out of Chakra Kiba undid his technique to get into formation, for Akamaru to transform once again into him, from a higher position he threw two things to the floor, with a 10-second span of difference, unrecognizable till they fell, to those he was battling with. They guessed out of the previous experience that it was a smoke bomb, Hinata rather than focusing on the bomb was more focused on Shino, seeming to be the obvious target of this attack.

"Better." Though Kurenai out loud.

When it arrived close, Shino recognized what it was.

"That's not smoke, close your eyes, Hinata!" Shouted Shino too late.

It was a flash-bang grenade. Imagine the effects it has on a normal eye, multiplied under the stare of the Byakugan. It was not only the bang, the shocking sound, it was a lightning technique in a bottle, literally. Just like the scrolls that contained other elements…

The second one was a smoke one so that Shino couldn't strike Kiba once he came out of his stupor.

"Man-Beast Ultimate Taijutsu: Fang over fang!" Shouted Kiba as they both strike their opponents.

"Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation" Hinata uttered from within the smoke before rotating and hitting her attacker and sending him out of the small smoke-filled part of the field, despite not seeing a thing.

As the smoke disappeared, Kurenai saw Kiba grinning with a hold of Shino at his neck without hurting him before growing preoccupied when seeing Akamaru on the floor. Hinata was on one knee, still shocked by the grenade back then. From Kurenai's perspective, this was a picture of progress at least.

"Alright, it's over," Stated Kurenai.

"Did we win?" Questioned Kiba as he let Shino of his grip and Akamaru run exhausted towards him. They were all gasping for air and sweating.

"What do you think, Shino?" Asked Kurenai as she tended Hinata.

Immediately, Shino's body dissipated as the structure of thousands of insects crumbled. It was just a clone. From the undergrowth came Shino without uttering a word, for there was no need. Kiba had lost the fight, but he won in the sense that this was merely to invite progress when things went sour.

Kiba approached Hinata and begged for her forgiveness. To the pleasant response of a smiling Hyuga that was just now recovering from it. Dismissing it, saying it was nothing.

Kurenai smiled and stated what they already knew, how things were going to be from here to the next three months. Kiba and Hinata smiled.

"Well then. We won't train together for the next three months. You know the drill. If you want to ask me anything in the time in between, you can come to me." Kurenai smiled, silently recognizing their growth and wishing for them to keep doing so well. "Good luck."

The three of them said their respective thanks in their own manner. Before walking away and giving how it was almost lunchtime and that they had reasons to celebrate, they invited her to come with them. Kurenai smiled and accepted, saying she would love to, telling them to get going, that in a moment she would catch them.

Why the delay? Because someone was coming their way and she had an idea that it was for her.

"Hey, guys!" Tenten kindly saluted them.

"Hello Tenten-san, what are you doing here?" Asked Hinata, wondering.

"I actually came looking for you, Kurenai-sensei. I was hoping you could help me with something."

"Of course. Get going guys, like I said I will meet you there." Kurenai claimed. As they left, she looked directly at the bun haired girl. "What is it, Tenten?"

"I have been told that you know someone who could help me?" Tenten asked with a focused stare. Whatever it was, she was set on doing it.

"What is it?" Asked Kurenai.

"As you know with the team's clan members going to train with their families, Neji will leave us for a month or two and although I have made an effort to train in taijutsu, I know I won't catch up to Lee and Gai-sensei."

It was not a defeatist statement; she fights and tries, and will continue to do so. But it was beyond reach. They were two madmen, and she could confess to not being able to handle their routine.

"I will try to become faster and stronger under Gai-sensei's tutelage, that's for sure, but I think I need a thing of my own, outside of what they always do. I ought to become a better close-range fighter." Tenten claimed as the images of her fight against Temari popped in her mind, she couldn't believe how much of a weakness it proved to be, if her long-range capabilities proved again pointless, she needed to have something to resort to, "Instead of focusing on taijutsu, I would like to spend this time doing Kenjutsu. I'm set on it." It was not as if Kurenai was about to argue. She could see that Tenten was set on it. "When I asked Gai-sensei, that's what he told me, that you knew someone."

"I do." Simply put Kurenai before raising her hand to stop Tenten from jumping and shouting, "But I don't know if she would be up to train no one. She is quite a busy woman. I will ask her this as a personal favor, but I don't make any promises." ¿Would Yugao do it? Kurenai thought. If not, at least she could recommend someone from the corps.

"That's all I ask for. Thank you, Kurenai-sensei." Claimed a smiling Tenten, internally jumping up and down. Physically vowing swiftly once in appreciation.

"Are you certain about this? I mean, I don't know how many hours she can spend with you and with the exams coming... From what Yugao tells me, it's not something you can become good at within two months."

"I'm certain" Claimed Tenten, this proving to be her immovable stance.

* * *

Both Sakura and Ino confessed their jealousy of both Team 10 and Gay's team, for they all remained together. Sakura's case was already known, a unique situation. The Team 8 case was different, Shikamaru was already a chūnin, asked to do missions bureaucratically out of both Ino's and Choji's reach. Asuma was sent to a special mission that he couldn't confess to any of them what it was about. The big bone teammate of hers had already gone with his clan, the Akimichi, before scheduled for all of them. Therefore, like her pink-haired friend, Ino's team didn't perform missions together.

Unlike Sakura, fortunately, they got together for a meal or a training session the least once every week. The Shika-Ino-Cho trio remained, for they were a staple of the Leaf for generations now, meaning that they were bonding still with one another, not parting ways and forgetting about each other.

As they approached the Dango restaurant, Anko glanced. In the distance, she glimpsed her friend, accompanied by the other one of her responsibilities in the time to come. Not being silent or shy, she yelled to get their attention.

"Kurenai! Tayuya!" Every head turned towards the loudmouth. Being Anko, of course.

The correspondent of those names turned their heads in the same direction everyone else did. Kurenai raised her hand to salute her friend.

As they approached, Ino smiled at Tayuya, who in response darted away from her, not accustomed to the easy-going nature of basic interactions.

She adapted well to living in Konoha, so far… The frantic nature of waking up in a hospital bed. The room barely having any light and an opaque crystal immediately in her eyesight, not a welcoming glance.

What came after that wasn't what you could call a good coop attitude from her captors, Anko opened the door of her room and didn't close it. Tayuya could remember how frank Anko was.

Tayuya, first thing she did, was to shoot her a warning glance as a defense mechanism. She became surprised at her appearing smirk and how unperturbed she was. Soon becoming shocked by her words. Small chat quickly faded that day.

Out of the blue, Tayuya recalled Anko positioning herself against the wall, respecting her space, aware of her unease. Her tone was mild, but her stare was not. Once she said, "how about we get real," things took a surprising turn in her life…

"You are smart and unafraid of us. Certainly, anything that we do to you will be nothing compared to what he has put you through. They have told me to handle this situation with care and touch, for you to not get away or attack us, but they don't know what I do. What Orochimaru is and what he does," Anko showed Tayuya all her cards, her curse mark. "How his marks eat you. How his hate and maliciousness leads you to nothing else but to reproduce it, almost inevitably. If it was up to him, to the world, you would be dead and maybe that's something you would have been glad of, something you would have embraced."

There was no choreography of hands adding theatrical value, helping her understand things through non-verbal communication.

"Instead, here we are at the Leaf. We healed you and while we could pretend otherwise, something that you considered a given, among the first reasons for it, is for you to give us information. Doing that despite knowing of Orochimaru's secrecy and therefore knowing how inconsequential what you have to say may be in our campaign against him. Yet here you are, our Hokage has taken a like on you and elaborated a carefully planned strategy for you to want to stay, to go to our ranks."

Bluntness may not be a sufficient word.

"They choose me, having an ounce of the capability of pretending to know what you have gone through, to lead such an effort. I believe so to be useless, for some people can't be helped, don't want to either. You have grown to hate this world, to kill anything, to negate the good in people, and your capacity of seeing it in yourself. To objectify people, for power to be the driving force of life, with people usually reduced to pawns on a board. Believing, not that you're entitled to violence, but that violence, be it physical or emotional, is in itself the only way. Growing cynic and beware of everyone's deep desire to hate you and therefore you remained by fear under the grasp of who held you, who hurt you, who you trusted to do so. I will not ask you to be a shinobi, for all I care you can be a civilian despite you not having a clue what that is. You might not want things to be told bluntly, presented for what they are, for your tricks of fear in the mind aren't but your capacity of planting your own in somebody else's. I present you a brief time outside of this mirage, for you to meet the truth."

She took a step towards her, her arms unfolding.

"You might not trust me, believe me, I don't trust you either, but I won't refrain from telling you one truth: that while here imprisoned, with someone watching you through that crystal, both me and my friend, Kurenai, who is just outside that door, will be ones to have cared and look out for you the most in your recent memory. We gave us, as in you, me and her, you within this village, a chance. A chance for you to not be always hurt and to, for once, decide who you want to be, to feel coercively free, yet freer regardless, to do and feel, among many things."

She sat down in the only chair present, no longer being in front of the door, clouding Tayuya's vision of her escape route. Anko even pointed at her and shortly after at the recipient of her thoughts. That opened door...

"You aren't in shackles so you can leave. You know that us telling you this is the only safe place is bullshit and that when you are within his grasp he will come for you. You know your cards and your chances, so you decide. You walk out now, damaged but capable of walking, continuously crippling yourself, leaving what I can easily grant you will be the best thing to happen to you in a while or we can wait for someone to bring you proper and comfortable clothes and in five minutes, test your legs as we three go for a walk." Anko at least showcased a smile there. Before turning back to her menacingly calm and now low speech.

"I can grasp that your mere hate for what he is and has done will influence your opinion, you question if we are capable of making him feel the fear he so preaches. I've looked far beyond just the reports, believe me." Tayuya was a bit shocked. "I understand that you cannot grasp that this is not for him, but believe me, I do this for myself, selfishly, and for you, him being but the main recipient of my wrath." Anko looks her dead on in the eyes "I will prefer for this decision to not be made out of hate, for your sake, but I will take it nonetheless."

That's what she said many months ago. The first words she heard from anyone outside of her doctors, a week after being told that she had been in a coma for 5 months. Things in the distance could be thought of and put as simple. While complex thoughts inhabited her brain then, they met her with a straightforward decision, a fairly easy one, that she promptly responded a week in.

Now here she was, going through her new life, incapable of hearing the sound.

"What do you say, Tayuya, Nai-Chan, bother to eat with me and these two midgets? My treat," Asked Anko. Sakura and Ino didn't like the term used to describe them. 'Give us time,' One of the two thought.

"I have my midgets waiting for me already right there," Kurenai said as she pointed to the three members of Team 8 waiting. "I just saw Tayuya-chan along the way. Maybe we could all eat somewhere if they give us a table for these many. We split the bill" Kurenai had no desire for herself or for Anko to spend a great percentage of one of their two salaries for 8 people to eat one in a single afternoon.

Kurenai looked at Tayuya, silently wondering if she was ok with the plan.

Nodding, the redhead tagged along. To be honest, while her vile mouth didn't utter a single compliment to not one of them, silently Tayuya had grown in these last months to like both adults, the one she had grown accustomed to.

Outside of them, rarely did she talk to anyone who wasn't Ibiki or Ino, reluctantly. For she didn't get along with the younglings, principally with Sakura.

They were both, as in Ino and Sakura, changing progressively. Amid becoming shinobi and teens, young women aspiring to become full-fledged ninja. Some conversations they both had, that being boys, for example, were so exogenous to Tayuya's everyday life that she could not relate to them in any manner.

Her everyday life revolved around dread (its many forms) and death, giving it to someone else or bracing herself from it. So, when venturing into social etiquette, hardships of other kinds, cultural, remained part of a "to do things" list she had. Things to learn, of challenges to face.

Tayuya knew Ino was reluctant to talk to her, already knowing that the boy she faced, that Shikamaru, was a partner of hers, but she could see her try. Smiling out of nowhere, trying to be kind. In her mind not only were some of those actions false and condescending, but paternalistic, and she did not like that. It all roamed Tayuya's head. She was wondering about making such efforts to reciprocate, bothering to get to know Ino before judging her. For now, Tayuya's only care surrounded a free meal.

She was yet to meet the genin that Kurenai teaches, though. Maybe she would like them more. In person, they seem particular, extravagant.

Sakura looked at Tayuya, within her the embodiment of an idea, of forgiveness and hope for redemption.

Sakura wondered, given how angry her master had been towards Sasuke, Sakura could swear she heard Tsunade saying to Shizune in a private chat that if she saw him again, she would ask for restraint, if not she would break his arm and shove it in the same manner the Uchiha did to Naruto, only in his own body, if Tayuya succeeding to accommodate to Konoha and being in two weeks added to their ranks would mean the same for Sasuke when the time came. Been fully aware that their cases were different, but that the fundamental principle remained. Things were going to get tough and while not a given that Sasuke would get back, she couldn't imagine how hard will be the next step: for Sasuke, a mainly under the "lone wolf" mantra type of figure, to be reintroduced into the village that he consciously betrayed.

Her mind wondered what were both her teammates doing, if they were faring well.

* * *

"We need to talk," Naruto inquired to the Bijū within his walls. Only for him to grumble, still not waken from his slumber. The option at hand that Naruto saw was to inquire some more, incisively, annoyingly, like he definitely knew how. "Kurama, we need to talk"

 **"No, we don't,"** Responded Kurama.

"We have to. Even you agreed with Yugito back then, even though you didn't fathom the chance of showing it," Naruto recalled before proceeding, provoking. "I can use this space for therapy, you know. Just talking time and time again to you for the rest of our days together, I heard I can be a pain in the ass. Loud, too. There's no hiding now, I know perfectly how to get to this space."

Kurama's face was hidden within his arms. Not showing any discomfort, yet both knew he was pretending, given how his forbearance never seems to last long.

"Could you just..." Before Naruto could ask for Kurama to utter a word, he was transported to a memory.

A memory with distinctive voices and blurry faces, only the first one being distinguishable.

Naruto saw the figure of an armored man, panting, bruised. As if he had just battled. The hair, his features, were known to all who stared at the Hokage mountains in search of inspiration time and time again during their lives. Naruto among them, chiefly among them.

'Hashirama' Naruto claimed, it was obvious. 'Am I capable of seeing your memories, Kurama?' He thought to himself in amazement. In shock.

"Nine Tails, your power is too great, I cannot let you roam free any longer," Stated apologetically the greatest ninja to have ever been born in Naruto's village, the God of the Shinobi.

Five seconds of the memory. Seconds after everything went blank for Naruto. He was no longer seeing the memory, the battlefield, just hearing a voice.

"Stay tranquil, deep inside of me. If you use your power, only hatred will come from it," Claimed a woman's voice.

'Mom?' Naruto questioned, not having heard her voice before. 'Deep inside of me? That has to be a jinchūriki'. He reasoned.

"You keep the world at bay... But I keep you at bay... Neither of us have any sort of luck, do we?" Said another woman. There were distinctive voices.

It didn't take Naruto five seconds to figure out who they were, why it was shown that way. The first one was seen through the eyes of Kurama himself, free, while the other two the Kyūbi didn't see himself, for he was imprisoned and there was no perspective but that of those who made those statements, the ones he was within.

The only two other people besides himself to be the Kyūbi's holder, Mito, and Kushina Uzumaki.

'So that's how you sounded like, Mom' Naruto was misty-eyed, smiling shortly before looking to see the Kyūbi standing up and looking at him dead in the eye.

 **"It doesn't matter what you say. All you humans do is lie. No matter the tone of your voices, the real intent behind your actions. All you do is use us when not imprisoned us. I never cared for one of you, Uzumaki. The last straw would be to be a victim of what I refrain from doing in order to escape from my captors, for the pity or understanding that I try to have of any you."** Kurama looked at Naruto, ready to question him on one simple matter, with no care for his real answer. **"The first chance I have of destroying the seal I will take it and your life with it, so tell me, why should I ever help you?"**

"Because that someone destroying the seal is going to be the Akatsuki and you're going to meet your end at their hands. Allow me to help you."

 **"Allowing you to help me to help you, ain't it? That's what you meant to say?"** Kurama laughed at the boy. **"You seem to be very confident in your control, Naruto, but tell me one thing, how do you think you can meet me here, when this seal is designed for me to not interfere with your mind wherever I want? Not only you came here, but you can distinctively hear me when I talk to you. You and your sensei betted; you loosened the seal. So, I wouldn't be so confident if I were you. One bad day and..."**

"Kurama, leave your threats and for once listen." Naruto interrupted, "Look, I convinced myself that I would not need you, that I could hate you for the rest of my life and that the two of us would have to deal with this quietly, annoying and despising one another. The first thing you were to me was the reason for the pain of many families who lost someone that awful day, the grief saying the Kyūbi carried. I never knew those stares were because of you. Then Mitsuki told me who I was to them, what I held. Told me I was you and I resented that, sincerely I'm trying to not do it now."

Kurama grunted. Looking at him with one eye as the boy took steps while speaking, clearly trying to come to terms with what he was about to say. Yet at ease, with no tension. Like he was not talking to the feared Nine-Tails.

"From them on, all I thought of you was how could I prove to not be you, to those who would conceive me as such regardless of what I do. To the ones who truly behaved like the monster they claimed me to be. When I saw you for the first time after Ero-Sennin pushed me off that cliff, I was afraid. Not resentful. As far as I knew back then, you took nothing away from me. I thought it was a burden that someone had to carry and the Fourth chose me." Naruto continues talking, Kurama had already understood the underlying message implied. But this boy was not one to stop. "I was more in need than anything else and you complied so we didn't turn to mush that day. I needed your power for us to survive, a demand so simple that we accepted five seconds in the conversation. It was just that. Time moved on and the only thing worthy of mention is you saving my life, saving me from Sasuke."

Naruto looked down at the floor. Gathering his words, recalling.

"Then I learn what happened that day. Who you tried to kill, who held you beforehand and let me tell you something, if that wasn't hate, I don't know what it was," Naruto looked Kurama in the eye, saying that. "I was working so hard so I never had to rely on you for nothing, using the power for which my parents were killed, Kurama. I was so convinced that I had internal peace until Jiraiya brought time and fucking time again how I needed your power. I may have seen you till now through the prism of hate, need and fear, Kurama. Of ignorance, too. Yet neither of us has made a great effort towards the other one to change their views. I am as certain of the fact that we need to do this together now as I was of the fact that I would shine you away from my life two weeks ago."

 **'How easily changed or gullible you are towards your position then'**. That was what Kurama wanted to say, provoking. But he eases a bit. He had talked more to this current boy than the two previous ones of his kin combined. So there was obviously an effort.

 **"Am I to bend to your will in thankfulness for you suddenly not despising me?"** Kurama proclaimed, taking Naruto back a bit.

Naruto was not about to speak confidently without careful thought or honesty. He needed a minute, and after it he was forthright.

"You are free to not help me, Kurama. Sleeping, dreaming, enjoying me get beaten, not helping me..." Naruto pointed out while showcasing a finger for each freedom at the time as he stated them, sadly the Kyūbi freedoms didn't even need his ten fingers to be counted. After trailing a bit as he tried to point other ones… "Sadly, those are the only things you are free to do. If you don't want to see our relationship as anything more than jailor and prisoner, then there's nothing I can do."

 **'Who would have known it was going to be this easy to convince him. Finally, he shuts up,'** Thought Kurama as Naruto seems to give him his back.

Nothing further from the truth.

"If you are not going to help, then at least don't get in the way, especially not now, Kurama," Kurama stood up swiftly with anger as Naruto claimed that. That Naruto dares speak to him like that angered him. If that scared the boy, he didn't show it. "You know what I'm doing, you have felt the nature chakra. I need to connect with Ma and Pa to fight, and I can't do that if you don't let them. I need this Kurama if I'm to have a chance. Don't fight or don't try, the truth is I care, but we won't be able to achieve anything if you don't want to. We are going to face Akatsuki, is obvious. And I promise I will do everything I can to defeat them and protect the people I hold most dear. If for a second you try to talk to me, who knows. Maybe you and I can even free your peers while eluding you falling into their hands," Concluded the blond.

 **"There's not you and I, brat,"** Kurama resorted.

"Very well," Naruto responded, he was taking things somewhat slowly in this regard, "If you need anything you just to speak up, Kurama."

No synonyms found.


	5. Blindfolded Till Now

Almost two weeks later…

"You say he is always on the move?" Asked a voice in a dark and remote part of the forest, where they wouldn't be caught.

"Not as much as you may think. Despite how highly you think of his abilities to hide and operate his ties and terrors leave a stench, a trail quite easy to follow.” He, rather it, was one of the most persecuted and known figures in the world after all. “I'm sorry, sensei, but the fact that the Third didn't kill him is unforgivable. Too is the fact that you want to save him is as well" The other member present recriminated, with a baffled tone.

"Have you seen the boy?" Asked Jiraiya. He could not reason and argue over something that he knew attended to anything but rationality.

"Yeah, quite talented, and cold. Is a shame that most of his features come from his father, the embodiment of soullessness and boredom. I have to tell you, sensei, to date I couldn't fathom hating someone as much as I hated that guy. Then this snake came along. Among his servants, there are quite good candidates too."

"Didn't you like him for a bit?" Asked again Jiraiya, smiling internally, recalling the boy mentioning something once.

"What? Hell no! He was handsome, but there's nothing attractive about a man that doesn't smile. Whose repertoire of personality traits and faces could be counted with half of the fingers of one of my hands."

Jiraiya laughed in response. He didn’t recall him to be an extrovert or fun person either.

"It's a shame really, with all the great traits that Sasuke could have inherited from his mother," Jiraiya said.

"Not going to argue with you there."

"Has he partaken in any of Orochimaru's errands?" When the other figure shook his head, Jiraiya reframed the question. "Have you?"

"You know how this goes, Jiraiya-sensei. You are better not knowing."

"Yeah, but..." Jiraiya was interrupted.

"No buts. I volunteered for this. As far as I recall, this was my idea. I knew what I was getting into. We have dated proof of many of his actions, information that upon sharing will bring the world upon him."

"And upon us, Shiraki, don't forget that. If Tsunade shared that last report or if it was stolen, Danzo will be involved and so will be the rest of the village in response. Don't get hasty."

"All right, all right." Conceded Shiraki. "At least we know where most of his hideouts are, many of his plans, and have eyes on Sasuke."

"You think you could pull him out?" Asked Jiraiya. Wanting Naruto to focus on the Akatsuki.

"No.” There was no trace of chance in that only word and his intonation. “I know why you asked, but even if Minato's boy could beat him, which I doubt having seen Sasuke fight, he will not return to Konoha. The moment he is free, he will come back here again. He is quite deluded, actually. You would think that all that smugness and intellect could count for something, but his plan is nonsense. Beating Itachi with the teachings of Orochimaru, who couldn't even touch him, is completely deluded. He’s dementedly fixated on that. He rarely talks with anyone, only trains..." Shiraki’s report was interrupted.

"Sadly, it doesn't mean that Naruto won't try," Jiraiya said. He thinks about how to do this. "I don't know if talking with him would serve for much. Even Naruto acknowledges that that punk won't return if forced to, that he doesn't wanna. It's stupid and suicidal to think he will simply come back after a chat. Furthermore, if Naruto beats him and was able to drag him back, I don't think his Uchiha pride could take it, increasing his showcased madness.”

The further he goes along those lines of that train of thought, the more aware Jiraiya becomes about the lack of choices. Following the only one he could think of. ‘Say what…’. “I will go back with Naruto, you remain here, and when you have a plan in mind with the best possibilities of success, you simply contact me. Okay? We still have time till the procedure. If you see things on the brink of turning for the worst, you warn me and I will take care of Orochimaru, where he to find out. And you handle the rest. We get Sasuke away from his grasp. If Naruto was involved with their record…I mean… The only realistic scenario is those two fighting again.”

“And if it doesn't work? If your boy can't stop Sasuke or he won't fall into reason, then what?" Shiraki looked at his sensei, aware that he didn't have an answer, that he didn't care about or search for it. Like he guessed months ago…“You are just hoping that Naruto gives up on him.” He blurted out the headline of his article. “That and for Orochimaru to not have his body. You do not care about him at all. You don't even call him by his name.” Recriminated Shiraki. "Last I remember, Mikoto was too a part of the team, I know Minato was like a son to you, but that doesn't mean that Sasuke shouldn’t be among those who you have to look out for. They are not mutually exclusive scenarios.”

“Shiraki, things aren't like that.” Jiraiya calmly put, trying to down the decibels of the conversation, which did nothing but to incite the opposite.

"Bullshit," Responded Shiraki, angered. Here he was, cooperating in a mission with someone who could not care for the health of one of his student's son, only for the aim of taking Orochimaru down.

"What is, Shiraki? Not that it matters when it comes to this, but Mikoto wanted the three of us out of her life. Kushina was the only one to hold on and when the time came, she wasn't even in their funeral."

"You resent her, is that it? This is what it comes down to? She may have been forced to do that. You know what the Uchiha and other clans are like. They enticed her to meet Fugaku, with the underlying that she was to meet him and ultimately marry him, a distant relative of hers, by the way. I don't care for how much." Shiraki claimed as he cringed at the pureblood pretension of some clans. "Who knows what else she was or wasn't to do. She did nothing to us to warrant us given our backs to his son. Especially if Sasuke is going after her killer." Shiraki had two pictures of Mikoto in his mind, before and after meeting Fugaku, one was an exuberant, joyful, funny, and open woman and the other one was the everlasting picture of a wife that rarely got out of the house and that when she did only met the world with a fake smile, independently of what they were talking about, rarely showcasing her true self.

"Good thing that you are here then." Responded Jiraiya, before taking a deep breath and raising one hand to his forehead, trying to make his student see his reasons. "The team lasted five years, Shiraki. After the war when she became jonin she cut all ties with us and in the process the possibility for us to meet her once. Let alone her children. The one who killed her and the other one who walks to the rhythm of his own goals with no care of who he destroys in the process. I cried for her too when she died, but she made it clear back then.” The discussion of that day permeated their minds. Each could recall with precision each word uttered. “Unlike you, I moved on and respected her decision back then, rather than shouting a hate speech to her face as you did.”

Shiraki didn’t keep eye contact through that, looking to the side and slightly clenching his teeth.

“The one that does warrant something is your desire to make up for that.” Jiraiya directly stated. Shiraki was a marvelous actor and spy, but when it came to the team, especially for his then-best friend Mikoto, he wore his heart on his sleeve, lost composure… “What she won't prevent me from doing is stopping Itachi and his new crew or to defend Naruto from a boy who carved a hole in his chest. Sasuke should have killed him that day, his wounds were close enough to do so. Wasn't Minato your friend too? Weren't you his best man?" Shiraki looked down "I'm not you and I'm not here for the same reasons you are. Stop putting things as if they were all simple under the prism of what you think should be plausible. I have no grudges against her or the Uchiha clan, but I won't go out of my way to save them."

"You're too self-righteous, you know that? Didn't you say she saved Naruto?" Asked Shiraki, confronting Jiraiya.

"When did I ever say that?" Jiraiya asked back, baffled.

"You told me when I visited him in the hospital after he was attacked. You told me..." Jiraiya caught on to the instance that Shiraki was mentioning. Going undercover had affected his memory.

"I told you I confronted her. You clearly just made the saving part on your mind purposely, so your cause was embodied by a debt we owed her. No, my dear student. I confronted her after I stopped three uchihas from kidnapping Naruto when he was just a six-year-old, something he doesn't recall. Something I stopped out of luck. Want me to refresh your mind, Shiraki?" Asked Jiraiya, wanting to showcase Shiraki how biased he was.

"No, I'm fine, thank you." Dismissed Shiraki, not really wanting to know.

“Well, I'm not. I stopped those boys, leaving them to the ANBU, and carried Naruto to the hospital. Afterward, I went to the Uchiha Compound in search of Mikoto, to ask for help. To tell her what happened.”

How he caught them by surprise with Naruto after a toad assigned to watch over him warned him that they had kidnapped the boy and were taking him away, eluding the ANBU… How he knocked them out promptly after…

“As you could recall, Mikoto couldn't lie even if her life depended on it, she was just terrible at it. Her answers were printed in her face. She wasn't surprised when I told her about that, so much so that my anger grew silently. It was easy to see that she knew something.” She was so cold…” Her response to my plea were, what, five words?”

He mimicked her voice. “I'm sorry Jiraiya-Sama, I don't know anything about it, now could you please leave, I'm expecting someone.” There ended the portrayal. Sama? How could she have called him Sama? He preferred sensei, the honorific distant san even… “Those were her words, giving me the cold shoulder and acting as if we never met. In retrospect one could call it laudable, because all she was doing was protecting her children, knowing what talking would do at a time where tensions between the village and the clan were so high, yet all I could feel towards her was resentment. No longer that being the case.” He didn’t wish to see through her eyes what his face and demeanor were that day, his anger getting the better of him as she dismissed him. Still not sharing the truth. He might have stolen an unbecoming at her that day, not lecherous as he’s known for, but hateful.

“She made her choice. She was set on not putting her family in jeopardy, despite the hate that the world could put on her and spite of the life of her best friend's child.” That was the blunt truth, the fact. “Samwise, I made mine back then, and such a principle couldn't be more reinforced now. You know why?"

Shiraki didn't respond, given how it was rhetoric and he was about to proceed without a care for what he said.

"Because I have a pretty good idea now of what she was hiding, thanks to the proven evidence I have now," Jiraiya stated, with almost vindictive eyes.

"What?" Simply asked Shiraki, clearly not having much time to talk in this conversation, just to listen.

"Naruto, with the help of the ancient memory inside of him, recently confirmed what we knew all along, that someone was behind the attack.” Shiraki couldn’t stop a gasp. “We knew that by the corpses in the room where his birth happened, Biwako among them. What we didn't know was what happened after or who was behind it, we had a hypothesis."

Jiraiya paused before lowering his voice, but not the tone, the anger. "Well, it turned out to be an Uchiha that extracted the Kyūbi, killing Kushina in the process, putting the fox under his control and sending it after the village. Now, for that, he needed not only skills but a particular eye, according to that thing, the Mangekyou Sharingan." Jiraiya paused before proceeding, "I know of a couple that had it. Tell me what value would Naruto have to an Uchiha clan amidst a time that resembled more a civil war than a coup d’état?"

"You are just presuming that you know, you can't." Shiraki said amidst his internal self, crumbling. He knew nothing about that. He was among the many that lost too much the day of that attack. Kushina, Minato, both his mother and his husband, both were first responders; his older brother... Among many more. Actually, you could put him at the top of that sorrowful list of loss.

"They tried to kidnap Naruto. Only one outcome could come to him by their actions. There was no bribe. He was a weapon, someone they could use as leverage if the war came or in negotiations, were they to want any. What awaited Naruto by their hands was death and the saddest thing is that in that scenario the best thing that could have happened is that Naruto died during the process, not completing it, instead of dying nonetheless like his mother, with the Kyūbi roaming free of his cage, under the control of the Uchiha, once again." Jiraiya looked at Shiraki. He was on the brink of having a breakdown, his breathing had fastened. "She knew, Shiraki, and yet she chose her clan in order to protect those she cared about the most. I'm doing the same, and that Sasuke boy of hers has already been close to killing Naruto, so forget my lesser care for what his fate is."

Jiraiya walked past, leaving Shiraki on the floor as he had to sit down.

This had been a long time in the making.

"You are the one who has to make your own choice, Shiraki, but its objective that your mind is clouded. Mine may be vindictive, yours is drawn in the need of her forgiveness. Think and choose for yourself." Jiraiya looked at his former student, guilt rising as he saw Shiraki's face. He was shocked. "I'm sorry, Shiraki," Not much more that he could come up to say.

Jiraiya's intentions weren't vile or evil, on the contrary, but his anger made his last words seem too cold. "Thank you for the information and everything you're doing. I will do my best to protect Sasuke, for Mikoto."

By the time Shiraki turned to Jiraiya to glimpse him, he was long gone.

As long gone were the times where they could physically pose together in one photo. Want to either. Want to keep it and the memories of those times…

* * *

Fukasaku stared at the boy in front of him. On top of his board, upon a fall that would undoubtedly kill whoever was so unlucky as to lose balance.

Naruto had already gone so far, just two weeks in, and he was almost there.

Till now he had proven to be incapable of balancing his Sage Chakra with Physical and Spiritual Energy enough to maintain almost all his features. He was what they considered an Imperfect Sage Mode User, just like his sensei. But he was just on the verge. Fukasaku just couldn't understand how close.

He had already tested the strength and the changes that came with that new form.

Spending time with Naruto made Fukasaku believe that he was truly the chosen one. His character and demeanor, his will... For him to have adopted this pace. Fukasaku didn't have to go out of his way for Naruto to train or do something. He didn't even need to be present for Naruto to do his routines.

He could even hand him his Baton and told him when to use it, and one of his clones could hit him when he didn't hold his control. He didn’t just in case.

His motivation had no match. Unparalleled. Fukasaku’s memory didn’t recall someone close to this young man.

When Minato came he was more eager to continue learning the Hiraishin Jutsu and progress further in his prowess in fuinjutsu than in this, he just couldn't help it.

Also, he wasn't or didn’t seem to be in the best of emotional places, times in his life. While he wasn't vocal about them, it seemed obvious that he had too many personal problems to focus on this, solely on it. Like one needed to be.

It took some time for him to succeed at taking each step. The prodigy who never had a problem with learning any kind of complex, unreachable art in his life had quite the struggle with Senjutsu, almost not perfecting it. What’s more, it never developed into one of his strengths, one that he would rely on. He perfected the balance, but he had limitations, and it took too long for him to gather the nature energy.

In summary, it was unsuitable. Fukusaku and Shima only fought once upon his shoulders. It was hard aiding him at that speed, no matter how in sync they were.

Jiraiya on the other hand was a conundrum. If you asked Fukasaku why didn't Jiraiya perfected his Sage Mode, unlike his two pupils, he couldn't give you a clear answer.

With all honesty, he could just not be that good at it. It wasn't a knock against his "Jiraiya-boy". He was such a polyvalent shinobi… Seasoned in many styles of fighting, intel gathering, summoning, ninjutsu, fuinjutsu… We all struggled with one thing or two here and there…

Be it that, be it the fact that he was always on the move and focused on conflicts of grand scale, either fighting in them or eluding their occurrence, be it whatever you want to call it, the fact was that he just couldn't balance those three sources.

The successor of them both now was within Fukasaku's sight and on the break of surpassing them both with a huge margin in terms of time needed. Astronomical margin. 'This boy' He thought, baffled. A certain meeting had to happen with the Elder Toad...

Fukasaku saw Naruto's face morph. Little wrinkles appeared as he subtly gestured that something was off, different. His eyes remained close. He was feeling something. Naruto was on the brink of losing balance and falling. Fukasaku felt something too, someone rather. Extending his arm from the top of the peak, he silently suggested to whoever was approaching to wait a second.

Looking down, Fukasaku saw a familiar face looking up, 'Perfect timing, Jiraiya-boy', Fukasaku thought.

* * *

Just a moment ago…

"What do you want, Kosuke?" Asked Shima at the fellow toad.

"Jiraiya-Sama called to be summoned here."

"Why don't you just summon him yourself?" Shima looked at the youngling. He didn't have an answer. She cursed on the back of her head. "All right," She did it herself.

Soon Jiraiya appeared before the reprisal of Shima for being one week too late. Jiraiya apologized repeatedly, briefing her on who he met.

"So how is Shiraki-chan? I haven't seen him in 16 years almost," Shima asked with wonder. When she looked at Jiraiya, turning away from her and going in the direction he thought Naruto would be… "That bad?"

Jiraiya didn't respond, instead, he just changed the subject to the protest of Shima. It was hard to not be melancholic thinking about those times, those three younglings that in order to aid in their training, Jiraiya summoned them to help and guide each.

"How is Naruto? How has he fared so far?" Questioned Jiraiya as he thought about what prank Naruto would pull on him for arriving late after he just left him alone.

"He's perseverant, hungry, and resourceful… Also has guts, so how do you think?" Shima pronounces with pride and happiness. "He could sense nature energy three days in his training," Jiraiya tripped when he heard that. That was unheard of! "He's got quite the hand of this. That boy."

"There he is," Jiraiya stated as he saw him atop that damn pointy protuberance that he didn't recall with affection.

"Wait, Jiraiya-chan," Shima whispered as she saw his husband's hand extended. "Naruto is concentrating, it's best we don't disrupt him."

"All right." Said Jiraiya as he remained where he was instead of approaching them both.

While his eyesight was not his best feature, even at a providential distance, Jiraiya could see Naruto's eyes turn. He just couldn't pinpoint if Naruto's change was displacing itself in more places.

Shima looked at Naruto and had to bring her hands to her mouth to not shout in surprise.

Taking a couple of steps, they could see Naruto's eyes open. That was the second time Jiraiya saw those features in his lifetime. 'Impossible, I can't believe it', thought Jiraiya with utter surprise.

"Impossible!" Exclaimed Shima as she saw Naruto opening his eyes. 'How?' "There's no doubt, those rings around his eyes, with no frog features, that's..."

"True Sagehood." Interrupted Jiraiya in disbelief and pride. He was actually kind of jealous too, but yet at awe.

His thoughts quickly grew to be inconsequential or non-present as he saw Naruto fall from a height that would certainly kill everyone.

Naruto's body crashed to the ground. The heavy sound of the body crashing into the floor, that hard floor, stayed with them. Not likely one they will forget. Naruto’s eyes were wide open, his hands searching for his face, a bit shocked. Tossing to the side the rubble that he had above him, he sank his hands in the debris to get out of the small hole he created.

He rose. His initial surprise outside of being alive… That he could sit up! It didn't hurt the way it should. Sage Mode was the only thing that came to his mind. Did he succeed?

"You see, Naruto-boy? You've become one with nature," Simply stated Fukasaku. A joyous smile adorning his face.

Naruto smiled, incapable of holding it in. Two weeks and two days of hard work came to fruition before he could even grasp it. He couldn't wait to test the wonders that this newfound ability could conceive.

It was an inestimable capacity.

‘What is this feeling?’ Naruto pondered as he looked at his features. All were human.

For starters, he could feel another person's chakra in the proximities, which was amusing. Funny enough, he needed little precision to tell who it belongs to as its holder was coming straight towards him with Shima at his shoulder.

Naruto's face turned into disbelief.

"Ero-Sennin?" The words lingering, like he was not expecting his sensei.

"Jiraiya-boy! When did you get here?" Asked Fukasaku, previously upon first notice with the same surprise that Naruto had.

Jiraiya didn’t utter a word at first till he was a foot near.

"I can't believe that you did it already," Jiraiya smiled fondly at Naruto and offered him a hand so he could stand up, to which Naruto complied with thankfulness. "Sorry for being so late, there's much I need to explain to you, Naruto." Indeed, there was.

Jiraiya lastly had to come to terms with what the boy had just accomplished, did Naruto even know the level of difficulty of what he just reached. 'Do you even know what you just achieved, you baka?'

Jiraiya was certain that Naruto was the chosen one month into their partnership. The suspicion that he could be was in his mind since the moment he was born, after Minato perished. Now every doubt that he had vanished.

Unlike those who could have taken the mantle of the chosen one in the past, Naruto was long overdue. Trailed all of them. All who could have been were chunin by the time they turned 12, all had already led a squad in a mission by the time they were 15 and all were undoubtedly proper prodigies. Hashirama, Tobirama, Minato… 

Nagato had the Rinnegan, so he was to be seen and judged with a different metric.

With this achievement, Naruto was undoubtedly on that path now. He was catching up to a late start.

"How are you? How does it feel?" Questioned the Sannin. Pondering what the difference is between their levels.

"I don’t know how to explain it actually, everything is just so different," Naruto turns towards Fukasaku with one wonder, "You never said anything about increased sensing capabilities."

Fukasaku chuckled briefly before looking sideways at the boy.

"Do I have to tell you that when one principle you have learned is to sense natural energy?" Responded Fukasaku, such an answer being preconceived as a given that did not need to be uttered. "Now that you're able to use Sage Mode, only one thing remains..."

Somebody had other plans.

"Not so fast. Naruto, how about we test those new skills of yours beforehand?" Jiraiya proposed instead, Naruto's face lights up.

Fukasaku was just about to reprimand both of them, he was in charge of the training at the moment, only one thing remained, they could be patient enough for them to just finish with things. Before he could do so, his wife told him against it. The reason? She just wanted to see it.

Quiet and simple.

"Let's go," Naruto said as he got into a fighting stance. He was not tired, had new found confidence. "How long should I be able to maintain it?"

"For your first time? No longer than 5 minutes." Both Jiraiya and Shima laughed at that, all seem to be but a reference to a whole other thing. A double entendre. Fukasaku's eyes rolled. He was definitely going with Naruto in this one, hoping that Jiraiya got humbled or beaten to a pulp, "You two, grow up!"

That did not deter their laughter.

"Let's get going then," Jiraiya added while Fukasaku stared at his wife, daring her to make an easy joke about cuddling or any of that shit. Shima obviously made them all, all that occurred in her mind while she looked directly into her husband's eyes, amused.

Both Naruto and Jiraiya sat down to gather nature energy. It took Naruto a shorter amount of time. He was told to continue gathering…. To wait. He needed less than half the time of his father.

By the time both opened their eyes and stared at each other, they could see the difference in development on that technique. Naruto saw his teacher's looks, bemused, he thought his sensei actually looked cool and menacing, badass, with Shima and Fukasaku in his shoulders.

‘Shouldn’t I be the one getting help here? I’m the rookie.’ Naruto would try to not hit any of them both.

“Remember Naruto, no Kage Bunshin no Jutsu,” Jiraiya recalled.

They nodded at each other when they were ready. Raising each one hand in front of their faces, as a sign of respect.

Before Naruto could plan his next move, a punch was within striking distance of his face, while fast Naruto could clearly follow it and react to it in time, ducking.

He jumped to his right and counterattacked with a low aimed kick, Jiraiya raises the foot targeted, leaving the other one and his balance in jeopardize, having low leverage and with both hands in the ground, the blonde spins with his other leg at a quick pace and contacted the other one, or so he briefly thought.

Suddenly a flashback popped into his mind and Naruto instantly thought ‘Not twice’.

Before Jiraiya could land Naruto strikes and as he approached, he saw his sensei with his back towards him in the process of finishing his backflip. This was the time. He didn't recall with certainty contacting Jiraiya’s other leg, like with Neji in their fight during the chunin exams. This time he didn't wait. Here was his chance.

'Cunning brat, I can't allow myself to hold back. This ain't no 14-year-old boy, but a Sage user.'

As Naruto strikes Jiraiya, he sees one of the old man's long arms set place, land on the floor intending to push himself back. Disobeying the laws of momentum, he did that faster than Naruto could strike him, eluding the boy’s attempt to make any kind of contact.

Naruto retreated into a standing defensive position after Jiraiya eluded his first strike, once repositioned with mastery. Naruto waited for Jiraiya to strike.

In the blink of an eye, Jiraiya was a meter away from him. After some moves that made no contact, at most caressing each other, both moving fairly well, countering the other, Naruto’s foot almost reached Jiraiya’s chin; Jiraiya threw a punch that Naruto could easily catch. 

His reflexes… The improvement was…

The moment Naruto raises his arm, bluffing to catch Jiraiya's fist with his palm, he fluently and almost harmonically moves it. With ease, he eluded his fist and ventured into grabbing his attacker's forearm. 

The moment he did, Naruto positioned one of his feet in Jiraiya's bent knees and with the impulse of that hold, launched a strike with the other leg, only for his foe in battle to bend a bit backward. Sufficient. Good thing he had long arms.

Jiraiya already guessed what the boy was searching for, although taking the wrong steps to do so, he did like the idea. Naruto was not resorting to brute strength or raw power, he was still respecting Jiraiya enough to not allow many openings.

He was a little faster than Jiraiya expected, which only increased his current happiness. They trained non-stop for Naruto to do so.

It was an elaborate plan, but right now, Naruto with both left arm locked and leg in his right side while the rest of his body in the air, the momentum, and the battle… Jiraiya would not allow for the boy to get a hold of his shoulder.

Gripping the boy where he could along his arm and with force, he threw him away. Tossing him aside.

Landing on his feet, the boy could only smile.

'Three minutes!' Thought Naruto, that's how much he had left. His mental clock. If his resistance to blows increased too, he could risk being hit. Needed to if he was to do something in this fight.

What would proceed the first minute of those three would be a tirelessly gaki trying to connect hits in inventive and controlled ways, without rushing, making his sensei at least break a sweat for a change.

Naruto didn't need to use his second hand to count the times he was nowhere near connecting a hit to his chest, ribs, or gut. Or his leg to connect with anything that wasn't Jiraiya’s defending shinbone, shinbone against shinbone, Naruto could guarantee how much that hurt.

Painting yet anxious and ready for more, the boy now had to defend himself, for the elder took the lead and the offensive. Without noticing how, the moment Naruto stops an attack, looking sideways he glimpses a leg launch towards his chest area, only having time to brace for impact, with both arms protecting him in a cross-like army posture, he does so.

The instance the leg reached, it sent him backwards. Before he could stand, a fist contacted his gut, forcing him to the floor. Instinctively he ducked an impending stump, with such agility that after two moves, standing up and blocking another strike, Jiraiya was open.

Both Ma and Pa closed their eyes as they brace themselves.

Naruto landed a punch right on Jiraiya's cheek, sending him propelled many feet away, crashing into the landscape.

Jiraiya rose, hurt. 'That hurts.'

Naruto made a mistake by giving Jiraiya a quarter to breathe. One blow was nowhere close to going to end his battle. When he approached, Jiraiya already had stood up, was in stance, and had a plan.

Each of Jiraiya’s strikes had a purpose behind them, purposely leaving openings for Naruto in recklessness to take as he grew confident in his new strengths. Each time he took the bait, he received a blow.

Yet each time Naruto's blows went nowhere near his body, close to hitting him, Jiraiya felt a force against that targeted part.

Naruto took the other role in the fight and now waits for his opponent. 'Again with the leg', cried Naruto as he was incapable of eluding it, sending him against the closest rock wall.

Before knowing how bruised, he was incapable of defending himself from the immediate punch. Closing his eyes, he only heard rock crumbling after a big noise. Once he opened them, he could withstand a smiling Jiraiya with his fist inside the mentioned wall.

A wall of rock that, once Naruto turns to see, was falling apart from just that blow. If Jiraiya had hit him with that, he could have not guessed what would be the result.

Time was up for Naruto's Sage Mode.

"I think it is enough for now," Claimed both Jiraiya and Shima, as Jiraiya too lost his Sage Mode. Claimed it as if nothing had happened. "Now that was intense, wasn't it?" When he looked down at Naruto, Jiraiya felt the need to ask as to the why of that face. "What?"

Naruto got accommodated on the floor, back to the wall. He messed with his hair. Unzipping a bit of his jacket.

"Dunno, I guessed I just expected more. To hit you more than twice." He was not shouting, but thoughtfully assessing. Tired. "I'm faster than you in Sage Mode," It was not arrogance but a factual statement.

"It's the first time you've used it, Naruto, and you've done it against another senjutsu user. While you have perfected yours, mine is more seasoned in battle.” Naruto was but an agglutination of potential for now. And what potential that was. “Had I not used mine, you would have beaten me. That is, if I ever gave you a chance of being in range, close to my ass. I promise you if I wasn’t in Sage Mode I would run in the opposite direction, screaming.” All chuckled. Smiled.

Jiraiya continued. “I'm not saying this for you to be complacent, which you have proven yourself to be not. Remember Naruto, I'm the near level we ought to achieve if we want you to survive. That's where you should strive for, and you have not yet reached it. Just meaning that you ought to keep climbing.” Wait a minute, that was Naruto's point. Jiraiya presumes. “I'm 52 years old, Naruto, the trainee of both a Kage and the toads of Mount Myōboku. I have fought in two major wars against many foes and learned countless things within the battle and out of it. The standard is too high and believing that you will come even close in a year is lunatic. Yet, again, had I not had my Sage Mode on, you would have beaten me in taijutsu, that's the kind of progress we are talking about. Just in case you think you haven't progressed. You might be more agile, faster, but I'm more experienced, stronger, smarter than you are right now. Besides, as I said, it's the first time you've fought in it. This ain't a question of raw power, which I have too, but not to your level in Sage Mode.” ‘Nowhere close.’ “Just by learning this craft, you have elevated yourself to a place few will reach in their lives and you've done it earlier and better than me and your father. Be proud.”

Naruto tried to take that to heart so he could feel that emotion, yet he couldn't. Instead, prevail a sense of need and a hunger to continue to work.

He still had room to grow. Require doing so if he was to beat any of the names in the Akatsuki that he read in Jiraiya's scroll. Hidan, Sasori the Puppeteer of the Sand, Deidara the Explosion artist as he self brands himself, Kisame… And definitely, the one who Naruto fears the most, Itachi… The prodigy of the Uchiha who beat the three jonins that were teaching the teams of his generation with ease in a matter of minutes. Those were the defined, known names, but there were obviously more. Who knows how many more…

"Now that you two are finished, can I talk?" Fukasaku asked with irritation. Of course Naruto wouldn't win, he didn't have the time nor the training to have a grasp of the power he had just acquired, it didn't make any sense to fight right now. "As I was saying, what remains is to train you in Kawazu Kumite, a proper fighting style that goes perfectly with your newfound abilities, Naruto."

Naruto stood up immediately and got to work all afternoon.

* * *

Night ought to arrive and with it the food that came with a splendid dinner for a famished teenager that had overworked his ass off. Sweating rivers. With every muscle aching.

Fortunately for Naruto, the menu at hand was made with provisions that Jiraiya himself just brought, so he could at least enjoy the occasion. Looking at his sensei while they were all gathered, Naruto’s bewilderment rose. He was yet to ask the old pervert why the hell he arrived so late.

"Where the hell were you, Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya stopped keeping Naruto in the dark and briefed him on the things that were developing in the outside world.

Pouring himself some sake… "I had many meetings with informants on the developments that are happening, mainly the Akatsuki and Orochimaru. I had to investigate some of them out of disbelief, not distrust," Jiraiya confessed. He wanted to delegitimize each by simply laughing when he heard them.

"What's happening?" Asked Shima while watching Jiraiya’s stare.

"We have seriously underestimated the Akatsuki. To where that naivety could be deadly. I believed that they prided themselves in being a small selected group of S-Rank ninjas with a very concise aim. The simple errand to go after each jinchūriki in pairs, as they've done up to this point.” Their widely known modus operandi. “For as complex as their purpose might be, I believed that the means to get to it were as simple and predictable as that. That they selected those powerful shinobi so they could do it like that," Added Jiraiya as he tried to put things simply. "According to reliable sources, they were seen in small villages like Ishigakure, Kusagakure on the center of the continent. Some traveled into the outer islands."

Jiraiya struggled with the idea that he was wrong, not out of pride or anything related to it.

This wasn't an investigating field with a multiplicity of researchers that could point out each other's mistakes and correct them, each time progressing in the search of precision. The study of this subject, the Akatsuki, had only one investigator with enough capacities, intel, and resources to produce useful intel.

He alone had the information, and he alone chose to share it with all villages. Imagine it as being the only one capable of finding the cure for a disease and so far having produced the wrong ones. There were lives at risk, many of whom could have already fallen because of his mistake. So he resorted to a “we” rather than a “I” when he talks about the subject, unconsciously and often, to run away from all the responsibility that he had.

All who were on the table thought about how badly this smelled.

"Did they go only to places with hidden villages?" Asked Naruto. There was one specific place that he wished they didn't even consider visiting. Jiraiya nodded.

He posed thinkingly, bringing a hand to his chin, before sharing his hypothesis. What if they forced him to, Jiraiya would respond that these actions responded to. Their purpose.

"To be quite honest, I think they are trying to use the villages for a war campaign to keep us bothered. It makes little sense for them to be at the helm of them, to add them to their ranks, it doesn't fit their profile. They are a wildcard, I guess." Jiraiya added to the disbelief of everyone. It didn't make sense. In war, all went into disarray. It could indeed be easier to track the jinchūriki in the confinement of a war area, but so was true that it could be the opposite as well, the ambiguity… Pointing to someone amid a battle with precision was no easy task without a sensor, and for what they knew, they didn't have one. What if they were killed on the battlefield? Or the ones to perish were the jinchūriki?

"The small villages will never dare to face the big ones, the big five," Stated with confidence thanks to a historic perspective Shima. It had never happened.

"Unless they have victory guaranteed," concluded Jiraiya. He too thought of history for a deep breath, but he then went beyond. Akatsuki is an anomaly. "If the Akatsuki could prove to them it was plausible with a feat of strength that they can perfectly pull, then they will rise with them against us. They have plenty of reasons to hate us."

How come? Naruto frowned.

"Why do you sound so sure about this?" Asked Naruto, having gotten to know his sensei he could hear in his voice that this was a foregoing conclusion.

Jiraiya took a deep breath.

"They didn't go after countries with a clear line of command, with an established set of leaders, but to those political messes that they could easily take advantage of," Jiraiya recalled. "Iwakagure invaded Kusagakure under the reign of Onoki, who is still their Kage. They took over the government and killed both their Kage and their Daimyo. Since then the country has been in shackles, with many factions fighting for power, a past civil war, and three leaders in the last 13 months. The others are a variation of that tragedy. Many of which we were involved in…"

"How come?" Asked Gamakichi a second before Naruto, who had the same doubt. Without missing a beat, Jiraiya responded.

"Danzo."

The main problem was uttered.

Jiraiya knew there were more actors in this play, but none had the role that Danzo had, not even close. "Many of the problems that have roamed through these places are direct consequences of actions commanded by Danzo, under the nose of Sarutobi."

Naruto remembers that Kazesuda boy in the land of Frost forthwith. The look on his face when he saw the leaf in their forehead protectors. His dream of bringing peace was a fairly new one, but he could honestly tell you it was becoming more predominant than his of being Hokage, losing the sight of that position as the only way to achieve that goal. He was feeling conflicted; he had some clues of the wrongdoings of his home, thought so at least. 'What if I'm claiming to protect the village that has caused it all, what if it's the one to blame?'

Konoha had historically been the most powerful of all villages, so it wasn't a crazy suggestion. Who was this Danzo guy? He wondered.

"Who is Danzo?" Questioned now out loud Naruto.

"I was meaning to tell you about him before you departed here. You ought to have seen him at some point. An old man with a cane, with half his head covered in bandages," Jiraiya described, even mimicked. Naruto needed a second, but he could remember seeing those unique features more than once.

Jiraiya was ready to transform into Danzo if necessary. Nothing could ever make him feel filthier.

Naruto blurted out loud as soon as a mental image appeared. "Yeah, with one of his arms, like he had it in a medical sling under his ropes." He continues with the description. To which Jiraiya nodded. It seemed Naruto knew perfectly of who they were talking.

"Well, that harmless-looking bastard is the biggest cancer our village has. One that if Tsunade even dared to extirpate would blow in her face and on the rest of us." Jiraiya warned. There were few people he disliked more than Danzo, his fraudulence, corruption…. "He is the founder and commander, you could say, of the Root.”

Naruto read nothing of them… Never heard the Root as the name of a collective. Were they a Konoha’s shinobi branch?

Jiraiya tried to put it best… “A heinous creation that shouldn't have occurred. Authorized by the Third Kage under the pretense that they would protect Konoha from the shadows of any threat. Nameless men with masks and with no records of their existence and ties to our village that under that pretense of securing our land have acted callously for Danzo's interest. Formed by orphans or kids taken from clans under the promises of development to those boys, reputation, and payment to those clans, of favors, if not by orders, they have that power. All under the command of men loyal to Danzo, some of them ex-criminals or dishonor shinobi with a history of abuse and excessive violence.” A low percentage, but significant enough. The majority have been part of the foundation since birth, taught and indoctrinated in it. Controlled, loyal, obedient, with no self-care or name. With no anchoring element to their self, their body. No element to recognize themselves by outside of being a part of that group. With no surname that links them to family roots, marks of the lineage. No personal identity. 

Those among them that had any of these normal human qualities were either the selected criminals pointed out before or men and women loyal to the Hawk faction. A hard-line mad group that sought Konoha’s domination and expansion. The same principle and thinking that led to the second shinobi war. Fanatics in Jiraiya’s eyes. To be more accurate, the descendants of the mentioned men and women were the ones added to the ranks.

All had curse marks as far as he knew. No exceptions. They were cautious.

"Jiraiya-boy, that's terrible!" Shima stated, looking extremely disappointed. Konoha and Mount Myōboku were allies… Well, they were allies with Jiraiya and therefore with the village… The same.

Naruto was utterly shocked. Just where in the hell was he born in?

Jiraiya proceeded to tell them the tale of all the actions he had tracked on Danzo in foreign lands, his ties with Hanzo in Amegakure, to mercenaries and certain leaders... All that Sarutobi bothered to share with him, which was not that abundant or helpful, covering their tracks and his ass.

How in his search he even found mass graves. Danzo was a monster, yet one that they could not fight.

"What do you mean we cannot do anything about this guy?" Naruto asked in fury.

Every one present shares that sentiment to some degree, all their faces being that of disgust.

Jiraiya had to confess the quandary they were in… "If any of the actions he committed were shared or known to the public we could end in the brink of war. If we threatened him, he could pull a plug on basic supplies or a thread that could lead to an assassination attempt. He could just share the things he has done to other villages, provoking and looking forward to the conflict, and in a day they will be on our doorstep in reprisal. We can't go after him for those horrendous acts because each one of those he has done them under the unofficial ruling of our village," Jiraiya said, making it clear. "We are not ready to deal with Sarutobi's fuck up. Try to explain to another village those acts and tell them they weren't our responsibility, imagine what they will tell you."

Naruto couldn't cope.

By the timeline of it, his father had to know of him during his brief time as Kage. What did he do about it? How do defend right now a land in the name of peace, under the false pretense of protection against the enemy's supposedly cunning and atrocious ways, had given free way for a greater evil to cause such pain to so many people? Discouraging everything and everyone from peace and establishing a reality where confrontation was a need for survival.

Some questions continued arriving in Naruto's mind as Jiraiya explained. Was Tsunade safe? He couldn't fathom that she was if he was that power hungry. Why didn't Jiraiya become the Hokage and stopped the bleeding if he knew of it?

Just how bad of a Kage was Sarutobi? To allow so much out of someone that had repeatedly tried to kill him… 'What a fucking fool.' Naruto would freeze after hearing this next part.

"... and he has even ties to Orochimaru," As Jiraiya said that, every single one looked at him in anger, further anger. It was not like that emotion disappeared or lost its present reign. "He was his pupil, more like a pretended pupil. Orochimaru just uses him. You won't like this Naruto," Yeah right, because he loved everything he had heard until now. "He had also a bit of doing in Sasuke's escape and the invasion of Suna. His Black Anbu retreated and allowed them to roam freely through the village, giving the schedule to the Sound squad that took Sasuke of those who would have been there to stop them. His Anbu didn't defend the village, giving them routes and allowing Orochimaru to get to Sarutobi, so that someone could finally put an end to his life."

So much for protecting their home. This wasn't patriotism taken to a stupid level, this was a self-serving enterprise, and it had to stop. Thought Naruto. 

He seethes, closing his fist till they tremble by the force applied.

Just how rotten was his home? Naruto was having an identity problem. He remembered someone's words. Yugito's words.

"I am integrally an habitant of Kumo, and it would be, rather unpleasant for me to live outside my geographical boundaries.” She then pointed out much of what she liked about what they had inside them….That was not what Naruto tried to recall but her next words. “I like my home and all, but I hate someone who is, for the place they were born in. Who can only describe themselves to the place they were born in and define themselves by it, as if that place defines everything. I hate a man who sacrifices himself for an abstract nationalist idea for the mere fact that he loves his homeland with a blindfold."

How big of a blindfold did all the inhabitants from Konoha have on? To not see Danzo's crimes and therefore, in the eyes of the world, Konoha's, you had to be blind and deaf to the cries of the lives they had destroyed. How blind was he? Ties with Orochimaru? Just how fucking rotten was his home?

He always fought, fights for those who are dear to him, not for an ideal of Konoha, not for all of their people necessarily, and assuredly he will fight against Danzo, not for him.

Dinner was just nauseating. The first time in a week he had something to eat that he really liked, and he was feeling worse than in that week’s meals combined. Naruto asks to leave in the last part of it to get some air.

This was the second time in this fucking journey that he reached this level of disorientation. It obviously could not even fathom reaching the level of that first instance.

* * *

Flashback…

Naruto looked at his sensei, and the only feeling that clouded his mind was the desire to smack him, sincerely. He hadn't uttered a fucking word in the last two hours, the only thing to come out his mouth were monosyllables. Yes, no, what, maybe, again with no…

It worried Naruto that father time got to him and that he was going mad due to his age, in more sense than the old green perverted bastard that he forever seemed to be. This was his fucking idea, and he hadn't even bothered to let Naruto on it.

Here he was in a fucking boat with no clue to where they were going. Why was it important and what could inspire such a moody attitude? He couldn't even look at him in the eye, just looking loosely ahead.

Thankfully, they arrived. It didn't feel exhaustingly long. Given how little conversation there was, more than an hour with that weird atmosphere, a pain to be honest.

At least the views were nice and exciting. Seeing in the distance a giant island and whirlpools at even greater distances.

Helping Jiraiya to take the boat off the water, Naruto was interested. Unbeknown to him, his companion's hands were shaking a bit, and so was he at his core, on the verge of a heart attack, afraid of how his next worlds could shake the world. A cold sensation lay upon the elderly man's spine. A silent whisper accompanied with an unseeable stare. Turning, looking ahead, he saw in the distance what ought to be the now inhabited remains of one village.

Naruto, who joyously stood beside him, looked at the incoming waves that nearly tickled his feet. Smiling at the simplicity and casual fun of it all, looking up to his mentor. He couldn't help but notice that Jiraiya turned pale, seemingly worried. 'You are either sick or getting senile at an alarming rate, Ero-Sennin,' Naruto thought to himself. Looking in the same direction, he couldn't glimpse something that could venture him into such a state. Just some shades of green. Nothing more.

"Feel any different, Naruto?" Questioned Jiraiya, his voice cracking a bit.

"Huh?" What was he supposed to feel, asked Naruto to himself, did he have something on his back, was he bitten and didn't notice? He couldn't catch a stench, anything out of the ordinary, nothing that could lead him to feel strange.

Jiraiya wasn't staring at him when talking, rather he was looking at what seemed to be ruins, far ahead. Rather serious. Naruto didn't know how to put it, he was within seconds now of striking him, for real. He was freaking him out. Naruto asked again, for the hundredth time…

"Where the hell are we?" To no answer, at least not at immediate one.

When Naruto finally noticed his sensei's hands, catching them quivering for a brief second, his demeanor changed into one of truthful wonder. On the shore remained the rest of a wood construction that had decayed, yet you could distinctly see the shape of the symbol present in all Konoha's shinobi vests, not so much its red color. He did not know of this place.

Were they in a base or island that belongs to Konoha?

Jiraiya raised his hand and pointed towards the ruins.

"That ahead Naruto is Uzushiogakure, the homeland of the Uzumaki clan, your mother's clan."

* * *

Naruto wondered if he could ever hope for a tranquil life. An easy life. A family, someone to share it with, friends, a dog maybe… Would he get to live any of it if he didn't stop those who were on the brink of fucking it all? Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, and now the new appearance in that shortlist, Danzo.

  
  


* * *


	6. Where can I call home?

"Where is he?" Asked a preoccupied Shima to Jiraiya while he prepared a fire to sit around in the night's calmness, searching for an exception to the rule that had been these previous two weeks of sleepless nightmares. Restless days he invested to gather the intel.

Jiraiya just pointed up to the giant leaves that were above them. Laying upon one of them, near the stem, was Naruto looking up at the night sky. Silently.

"Poor boy. I didn't know it was that bad," Shima looked at Jiraiya, seemingly as he didn't respond… Rather than pondering alone in her mind, she wanted to talk about it. "Jiraiya-chan, tomorrow he will meet with the Elder Toad. I hope you all know what you are doing. Believe me, I do."

"I can't hope, Ma. The previous two who I thought were gonna be, died. This time I don't hope, I know."

No certainty was going to convince this old toad. She gave him a look…

"If you say so. You know I ain't the one to convince in what regards prophecies. Never believed in them," Shima clarified. "I just hope that you know the weight that you are going to put on that boy's shoulders."

Jiraiya needed to be right at this juncture. With what they were about to face.

"He differs from how you first described him to us," Shima said. "He may not have Minato's mind, but he is quite clever himself," Jiraiya smiled in response. Someone finally had seen it and could understand it.

"Right? Had you asked me about a year ago and I would have given you the same answer, no matter how much he has changed and improved in that sense.” Naruto’s rate of progress since the beginning, since they met, was way beyond the average Konoha genin’s. “Was he smart, academically wise? Hell no! But how could he be with everything that they threw at him? They never allowed him to be." Jiraiya explained, having been told of Naruto's treatment in the academy. "He wasn't properly educated, nor did the teachers wish for anything that wasn't him being ill or hurting. Thank god there was this Iruka guy around."

Shima looked up at the boy. How was this world going to ask so much out of someone a few even did anything for?

Shima saw Jiraiya doing his best to get comfortable. It never got chilly in Mount Myōboku. Their nights were mild, the casual breeze appearing that may encourage someone to reach for a blanket. Jiraiya was used to it by now, this had to be a second home to the old man by now.

"He was so dense when I met him that it is shocking to hear him speak now. Yet no matter how academically successful he wasn't, one thing that you could see with him was that he could grasp the principles of things, of what he could do.” Although… Jiraiya pointed while grinning. “Without the patience to wonder and learn about something that wasn’t training, or the character to stop against a foe that his mind told him he couldn't beat. He couldn't understand nor explain to you the details of nothing, yet he could understand the essence of the problem at hand and face it. He was an on your toes type of thinker, you could say." Still is… Shima interrupted Jiraiya's speech with a wonder of the past sense of his speech. Had Naruto changed in that regard? "Yes, he's different now. He knows better than to always rush, acknowledging that he has to be self-aware and know of his weakness and that of his rival."

Jiraiya continued describing the boy he was teaching for what seemed like ten minutes.

"He's prideful, but not to where he's blinded by it. He is among the most self-made human being that you can encounter and while he's upset when he's not capable of doing something by himself, he's capable of delegating and again, understanding his weakness. Knowing that minds like Sakura's or Shikamaru's are far greater for grasping some things, yet not solely delegating on what they preach." Jiraiya questioned if Naruto's heart was one of a leader. If he could lead a squad of his own. If he hoped to save everyone, could he grasp that sometimes it was not possible and that death was required? A sacrifice that wasn't to be his own. To trust someone enough, not overprotecting, and sending them into a near-death type of setting.

So those were the features and personality of the boy who was to survive in that world, thought Shima. Was it the right mix of traits? Mount Myōboku was a utopian place, a small community with great ties and with little distancing or dissidence on vital issues. There were no conflicts, not ones of the nature of the shinobi world. So Shima had trouble grasping how bad things were and how could those situations ever developed.

"Is it really as bad as you say? This Danzo guy. You make him seem like the epitome of darkness or something like that," Shima asked with newfound doubt.

Upon Jiraiya shined the flames. He kept his eyes fixated on it. Looking out for the flame to not disappear.

"Things aren't like that, evil and good don't exist in a vacuum. Danzo is the product of his time and the way they nurtured him for war, holding to heart some principles that he may believe were the ones to allow him to survive. Ruthlessness, mercilessness, captiousness, covetousness… Not caring for the construct that is morality," Jiraiya chuckled to himself. "You know the joke about a guy who has lost his key and looks under a streetlight?"

Shima shook her head in response.

"When asked where he lost it, he admits it was in a dark corner. The question that lingers is why does he look under the streetlight then? The answer, simply because the visibility is much better there."

When Jiraiya paused, Shima questioned in what world was that a joke. She had a great sense of humor, and yet she didn't find it funny. She knew she wasn't supposed to, confined that in those terms, she knew better.

"Danzo and the way he preaches bring the light to many people in the shadow. Rather than showing the world for its complex social processes, that dark place that it's not yet shinned, he shows it under the light of simplistic views that envelope you with a clear identity and perception of oneself. He casts a light where there is a clear ours and a clear otherness. The members that work under him know perfectly well to which group they belong to, feed with a narrative that everyone is after them, that they are the last men standing between hell and our doorstep, allowing them to do everything to stop them. They know perfectly well who are their friends and who are their enemies, established under the prism of everlasting war and conflict, with the most important thing, a clear sovereignty, Danzo's. They know who to die for and who to give death. Rather than realizing the troubles at hand, they just see the world through a simplistic repertoire of war."

Could anything be summarized into being that simple? Suddenly two hearing subjects thought of one another in a clearer way. What if both Naruto and Kurama only searched under the light that was the animosity and hate they had for one another instead of stepping, like Naruto already had, into the complexities of their relationship and their lives? Searching for the key outside the light. That wonder remained in Kurama while Naruto thought back into how dangerous was this Danzo guy. If he could create such a simplistic specter of thoughts… That was no simple feat.

"Outside of indoctrination and matters of that nature, what Danzo has managed is to feed that narrative, everlastingly, by creating hazards all over the world. By destroying structures of power, violence rises and those who are met with desperation, and slavery even, are willing to commit acts of abominable nature to survive, elude them. Those acts are the ones he gathers and analyses, feeding those under his command the premise of what monsters had committed them, those who they ought to stop. It is more complex than a cult, they have no regard for creating their own opinion and view or listening to someone else's, where they to live outside their bubble. They are living under a different set of rules and an endogamic ethos, a warrior ethos. Discarding outside stimuli." Jiraiya stopped to rethink what he was about to say next. "Were Danzo to ever ruled Konoha and he would just have to use some needles for a conflict to arrive, a new battle where we ought to be under the command of a military and season mind. The quandaries and quarrels that the village would have with him should be, ought to be, postponed in the name of protecting the country they love.” Their home.

No matter how right someone may be to attack them, the villagers would not sit idly by as they destroyed their home for their empathy, with their reasoning, in apology for the past, letting them hurt those they call close to them. Even Jiraiya would end up defending Konoha and disgracefully, in that scenario the kage, Danzo, as a result.

“War also brings that before mentioned light. Danzo could live the rest of his life under that predicament, under that course of events, with everlasting small conflicts against villages he has weakened enough for them to not have an actual chance of winning against us. Those villages he has forced into going to war with us if they ever hope to be free to develop. Conflicts that scare the inhabitants of our village enough to not judge him upon other acts of wicked nature that he was committing. Changes in command, in the ruling of the troops, on freedoms and liberties. We don't judge so much a leader in the amount that conflicts we have under him. Look at the two wars under Sarutobi; no, what we care for more is that we win them. We are too used to war, to the point of expecting it. So as long as it doesn't explode in our face once they all allied in fury and revenge, why not rely on him? If he doesn't lose.” Jiraiya hypothetically questioned, under that logic.

He feared that Konoha will buy again into the expansionism speech. Initiating war then, violating the different armistice treaties present, the silent agreement between hidden villages.

Also, the change that man could bring about in education…. Now that was a horrifying idea. 

"There ought to be a way to stop him," Shima thought out loud, he may be a populist with his own ideology, his own light that deviated from real answers under a constructed reality based upon blood and war, something of shorts; yet there ought to be a way to stop him.

"There ought to be. The thing is that I don't have any answers for that…" For all the speech that Jiraiya made, he himself didn't know that much about the guy, not to the point of being able to psychoanalyze him. Nor could he, with the hate he had for him, have an objective judgment. As presented in the past, his words lead just to simplistic, reductionist perceptions, like the one that Shima called out before, calling Danzo as just being evil and anything more… He was more than that.

Naruto carefully listened, waken from his near slumber. His mind has been in two places at a time for a couple of hours, in that memory, and that premonition of a dark future he was hearing was Danzo to rise to power.

* * *

  
  


Back to that flashback...

"That ahead Naruto is Uzushiogakure, the homeland of the Uzumaki clan, your mother's clan."

Naruto didn't bother to follow Jiraiya's hand, for he did not care for the place in itself but who was his mother. It was what clouded his mind, in comparison to that what little could matter this place. To say this out of the blue. Just how little emotional intelligence did Jiraiya have?

All that Naruto had faced in his early life were odds, the pain of loneliness and isolation, making loving not only himself but the world that surrounded him quite an achievement.

Throughout his life, he watched as kids were picked up from the academy or be it from other random places. Them saluting someone in the distance, only for that someone to be an approaching mother smiling wholeheartedly at her child, reaching him, look at him and either pick him up, hug him, and almost always kissing before-mentioned child. Whatever she did, in the blonde's eyes, she seemed to pour her mere being into loving in the most powerful and pure of all forms. There was care, comfort, and a bond that Naruto believe came naturally from family. He didn't get to know any of it. The pain of never knowing that and the sorrow of never being adopted, to not have someone willing to give him a chance to feel none of it.

How was he to love, truly, if they had never shown him what none of it is? Love yourself one could say, that's great, but it is much more complicated than shouting it to the fucking air, for there weren't ears willing to listen to him. They kicked him out of the orphanage before he even got the chance of creating bonds with the ones that suffered the same pain as he did.

In his mind, on rare occasions, he will draw pictures in which he would have a family. He could hear voices rather than picturing faces, telling him the most subliminal things, caring for him. For when those seem distant, he subconsciously felt shyness and remorse for ever wanting the comfort of the family of anyone, whoever wants him, of a friend or when the time came to a girlfriend. Being afraid of how unfair that would be of him towards them, yet he experienced none of it all. He had all these complex thoughts that were set in these surreal scenarios that he was not to live in his immediate future, if he ever was to live a single one of them.

He shouted out loud how much he wanted to be Hokage, but inside no-one could count the many times he shouted he wanted to meet his parents, especially his mother. He feared she didn't want him, love him, or knowing that she suffered, yet he imagined all those scenarios because never was he given a clue of the truth, of what were they like. He was 13 years old and here he was learning the first thing about her in the middle of the ruins of what seems to be her old home. He had too many emotions at the moment; he was both excited yet frighten, hyperventilating at the border of an attack, a nervous breakdown.

There was no frantic internal feeling that would deter him from hearing about her, though.

"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki." Added Jiraiya.

Jiraiya looked at the boy on the verge of crying and maybe smiling even. All those and more emotions agglutinated in one.

This was going to be the hardest step for both in their relationship and of this trip. If they could work it out... Given that the boy was speechless, he proceeded. He knew of one question that was coming, coming first of them all in his mind.

Naruto simply felt. Jiraiya said "was" bringing a sadness that he already reckon with. At the same time, strangely, it didn't bring happiness but an uncontrollable sense of something similar, relief, in knowing that she was dead, again, a source of unimaginable pain, yet that meant that she didn't abandon him.

Giving him a break, a mouthful of air, an inhalation that he felt guilty of. No longer his past was one where she left him, actively trying to live as far as she could, away from him. It was a sad, selfish thought that at this point in his life in a way he was entitled to.

Not focusing on anything else than her, the only thing Naruto could do was wonder who she was, what was she like. Hiruzen had almost convinced him he would get nothing out of asking these questions. Yet here he was, asking about her.

"What was she like?"

"Naruto… I… " Jiraiya proceeded, silently praying to himself. Much of what he was about to confess could induce some feelings towards the village that were in no manner of affection. But resentment, anger, and distancing. They could change Naruto at the core, his heart, something that certain blonde woman had warned him against doing.

There is a powerful element to height itself, one that Jiraiya didn't want, so he got to his level so they could talk head-on, eye to eye, appropriately. Jiraiya was handling from his point of view the fate of the shinobi world, hoping that he got it right this time. Without looking, he reached for his jacket and took a photo out of it. "Here." He said, and he handed it to him.

Suddenly rain seems to pour in the place, Naruto for certain felt water running down his face for he couldn't recall crying, or nothing at all. The moment he saw her, the first time the image he had of her in his imaginary memories, being truthful to the little idea of what a family was in his mind, was the one that corresponded to reality.

All his life searching for answers and all his life knowing the transcendent and demolishing effect that merely knowing anything or seeing any picture of his parents would have on him. Yet he underestimates that effect. He didn't know right now anything at all, nor his name, nor his friend. At this instant, the only thing he could stare at was at her.

A beautiful, intense dark redhead woman with purple eyes that for the first time he felt were staring at him, with a smirk rather than a smile that he could picture in himself a thousand times. He was solely staring at her face and arms, without intending to, is where his eyes went, even if she was in her jonin attire, he didn't seem at all focus on that.

That smirk, that face, she was definitely her. He had to sit down, unconsciously reaching for a fallen trunk, rather than falling flat on his ass in the sand, for his legs seem to be loosened without permission, on their own will. The grey man sat next to him.

"Hey, Mom." The moment he said that tears pour down, it was felt viciously in his throat and hands. He was just…

"She came to the village when she was very young. For what I've been told as a youngling, she too was a little firecracker. Curiously, other than inheriting her looks and character, you carry on both her dreams and manners of speaking. Both fast and usually ending your frames with a 'you know'." Naruto smiled, he continued crying, but he defiantly smiled, the widest, most pure, and felt smile he had ever had in his life. To know that he took of her so many things was something to hold on, a way of picturing her. "The Red-Hot Habanero, that's what they used to call her. She was smart, scary, and kind, with a heart that could barely fit her. Those that got close to her got to know an ounce of how great a person she was."

"Was she… Did she…." Not needing another world, Jiraiya's answer was up.

"With all her heart Naruto, I can promise you she loved you with all her heart." Naruto paused as he heard Jiraiya. The love of her mother was something that he didn't just take for granted. Nothing had he desire more in all his life, so while a simple sentence had its effect he had to, ought to know if it was true.

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked, almost silently. Repeating it back in his head with a twist 'How can anyone but her know that?'

'Here goes nothing'. Thought a frightened old man before opening up. "I can recall arriving at their house. At that point in time I may have not seen them in like… 7 months or something like that. So it was due time. I felt the desperate need to catch up. I was sitting at their sofa when I heard a door. Through it came a young woman with a widespread smile that radiated sheer happiness. Looking down, I saw that not only she was pregnant, but how big she had already gotten. She rubbed her belly and did nothing but smile, told me how far she was and both of them ask me if I could lend them the name of one of my characters to name you, Naruto."

Naruto's self was a fathomless mystery. He felt everything except fear, that one was out of his mind. When picturing her, the only thing that wasn't on the menu was fear. There was ease when staring at her, and unease when thinking about the more information that it was about to come, the things he grasped about his sensei role in this.

It all had gotten to a point where he wasn't at the helm, in control of what could happen 5 minutes ahead, of what he could do, and certainly, not any control whatsoever, of how to react to none of it. The number of questions he had, the amount that progressively appeared.

So many that he couldn't utter one without in the process paraphrasing another one. He did wanna know who his father was, almost as much as he wanted to know her, but once again he was… Unprepared. What if he was the opposite of what she was or… The questioning of wherever they would feel pride towards him, things of that nature, simplistic and complex thoughts both simple and complicated.

They knew him as being brave and reckless, yet when it came to this, after so long… Naruto didn't know. With the inertia, the current of things, Jiraiya would confess to him who his father was without his questioning. Refusing to the idea of him not owning up, to not be him who walked first into that blank space of his life, Naruto asked with the self-assertion that he ought to.

"Who is my father then?" Asked Naruto as he wipes the water off his face with his forearm.

Jiraiya didn't sugarcoat any of it and directly went with it.

"Minato Namikaze." Shocked wasn't enough to express what Jiraiya saw in Naruto once he blurted out that last part. He stood up fast and violent.

How could it be the Fourth Hokage?

Naruto’s movements were random, uncontrolled. His stare…

"What? No... Impossible! How come, how could he then... He did this to me! My father?" The rage of Naruto's voice was palpable. Even throughout his stammering. There was no joy in this confession in opposition of the other. He even stumbled when he rose.

This was getting in dangerous territory, thought Jiraiya. Naruto was just about done, on the brink of losing it, In a second the atmosphere transformed radically.

So many things made sense for once in Naruto's mind, while so many others just seem…Maddening was not the word. The recall of people looking down at him, whispering one to another "Did you hear the rumors that the Fourth died because of him" "If it wasn't for that monster, that thing, Yondaime-Sama would still be alive". If not for the too many occasions where they simply grabbed a hopeless boy and looked him with mere hate in their teary eyes "What are you doing here? Haven't you done enough?"

The natural feeling that came when resting upon the face stone of what now he learned was his father. Who Naruto both admired greatly, yet cursed, barely bothering to loathe him. Whom he asked from time to time, for Minato's stone to rarely answer. Why had he chosen him to be the recipient of such sorrow and pain? Of that responsibility.

Now anger festered to a degree… For a father to do that to his own child, thought Naruto. The pain of his burden, a pain that he left him alone to face.

Without noticing it, his eyes reddened and his voice got deeper. In the sea of it all, the micro verse of it all, there were things he couldn't grasp. But dead men right now couldn't answer for their actions. And the living was near losing the ability to be able to. Naruto had caught on, on one thing, he was lost to a degree without comparison, yet if memory didn't fail him, the man next to him many times said that the Fourth was like a son to him, not only that, he knew his mother, so the question that caused rage in him was one simple.

"What does that make you?" That tone could be conceived as nothing short of menacing, the mere sound of it. In Jiraiya's head, Naruto was on the verge of losing it and striking him.

"Naruto I…" Jiraiya for a moment crumbled. Naruto wasn't about to lay off of him.

"The Fourth is like a son to me. That what you said. Not only that, but you got to know her too, so much so you felt the need for once in your life to catch up with someone. Hope it didn't take you thirteen years, that would be quite..." A grudged had flourished, deeper than the despise he had for some villagers themselves. "I don't know what that would be. Answer me this Jiraiya, what am I to you, or rather what are you to me?"

"Your godfather."

* * *

"... you mean to tell me he took Tobirama's words to heart all those decades ago and refrain to question them? Like Danzo was his Yin," Shima asked out loud. Implied there was that Sarutobi was the Yang. The light and the darkness that Sarutobi believed were necessary to reign. A balance. She and Jiraiya seemed to be nowhere near close to finishing talking on the subject.

Unlike them, Naruto was. In his case, hearing of it.

Naruto jumped down from the edge of the leaf on which he had been resting upon. He was going to bed, having had enough for a day. He was not feeling like to sleep in the open tonight, for as beautiful as the night was, he just needed a quiet place for this one.

He landed feet away from the fire. Cordially wished everyone a pleasant night.

"I'm going to bed. Good night, " He said as he didn't turn back, just looking ahead to the ink.

Both Jiraiya and Shima wished him likewise. Shima briefly looked at Jiraiya with a telling face at the demeanor that Naruto was showcasing. His mind obviously in another place, they just couldn't point where, although one of them could perfectly remember that instance.

* * *

After hearing who he officially was to him, Naruto stared up, his whiskers and hair appearing wilder than they did before. There was a sea of tears and in them, desperation, anger, and hopelessness. Nowhere in his life had he faced so many events at once, it was taking a toll on him.

Lowering his head, incapable of looking him in the eye at this instant. He just thought of what to say until his heart spoke up.

"All my life wondering if I was alone. My whole life searching for someone who…Cared for me. Where were you? All my life searching for answers just for all… For every single one to be stepped on. For every desire and dream made fun of. To be exposed to the sorrow that only comes with the loneliness that I have always felt, that I couldn't free myself off." The body movement was visceral, his gesticulation... Naruto grabbed his t-shirt and pull it as if it represented the mere shackles of pain he had been waiting to free himself of. "Thirteen years you took to step into my life"

Naruto wiped off the rage, the impotence and sadness tears that run through his cheeks. "And when you did, there was no apology, no confession, nothing. No care at all. I had to gain your attention by seeking it when you didn't seek for me in thirteen years! Thirteen years, not a single day I see you. And after all that, it is me who has to persecute you almost for a bit of training. I… I just can't.” The combination of mist and redness in his fox eyes made for a unique effect. He just had to know. Did Jiraiya even care? Did he know what happened? He sounded defeated.

“Did it ever occur to you that I was lonely? That I was hurt? That they hurt me? Let me guess, it was you, not the Sandaime who paid for my loans," As he looked to the old man, he knew he guessed right. "I mean, it's too perfect. Tell me, did it occur to you I wouldn't last enough before you came to terms with the idea of visiting me? I mean, there were ANBU guarding me, sure. But when those purposely failed, some nights mobs searched for me, times when a tiny boy survived and eluded them because he was that, tiny, capable of hiding entire nights of those monsters in remote and unreachable places. There are mental scars from hearing that much hate coming in your direction."

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Jiraiya knew that was not enough, maybe saying that was worse than remaining silent.

"I couldn't care less about your apology!" Those red eyes seem to shine. Not in a good way. The intensity of his stare. "You left the boy who was blamed for the murder of countless family members of the village, alone and unloved, at the mercy of them and at the mercy of a Hokage that with the distance I'm doubting more and more his honest and truthful care for me." The thought of Naruto hating the village was one Jiraiya tried to elude. Maybe things would not go to plan. "So don't give me your sorry when you have done something so unforgivable!" As he said all these things, his enhanced nails caused him to bleed, for his closed fist trembled in despair and ire.

Rather than shy away from the conversation, Jiraiya stepped up to it. He took the chance now, and if things were to work, these words would be the most important of the entire trip. Violating the silent action of kneeling to his level, Jiraiya rose, afraid that if he did not do so, this conversation would not end well.

“I will not make any excuses, for there aren't any. I will tell you the truth and only the truth. And you will decide what you make of them.” If he was waiting for Naruto to nod or go along, concur, he would grow ancient waiting… He was forthright. “When your father died, I was shocked, stuck, and utterly devastated. There are many dimensions to why things went the way they went…” If he just had…

“I'm one of the Legendary Three Sannin, meaning that I'm recognized. Not only am I known, so was your father and so was the fact that I was his teacher. Minato was the 4th Hokage of Konoha, the Yellow Flash, worldly recognized for his use of Flying Raijin, both our hero in the Third Shinobi War and the embodiment of all the dread, agony, and misery that in the eyes of those who we defeated he caused. To Iwagakure he was the murderer of hundreds of their ninjas, the primary reason for their loss. The hate they still have for him...”

“There is baggage that comes with that and your father was wisely aware of what came with his deeds, the attention that his errands against various villages would get. He not only kept you a secret, but so was his relationship with Kushina.” Tried to anyway. “All of it was for a simple reason, all related to him became a huge target and while Kushina being a seasoned jonin could handle it, you couldn't, still can't. If I was to approach you and raise you, the suspicion given your features would have made it oblivious to the world.”

Naruto remained baffled, 'And the suspicion that you raise now?' He thought. If he was ever gonna appear in his life and train him, the chances were that they would find out, regardless.

"Hiruzen said he would take charge of the situation and that I was to remain for an undetermined time away from you. He wished to conceal your actual identity, and that's the reason you didn't inherit the surname Namikaze, but your mother's instead. At the time all seem reasonable to me." Naruto growled, for Hiruzen was with time becoming more of a conundrum to him. "That's a part of it. Also, within the first year after their deaths, the threat of someone taking advantage of the weakened state of our homeland, given how much we lost, was real and obvious. Upcoming. You can't understand the weight that your father had and how much his name alone erased the enemy thought of ever approach us and attack us. Therefore, having a spying network and the ability to face those threats, I was ordered to do so."

And with that, the end of the straightforward part, the logical, pretended rational, and more easily spoken one. Assumed Jiraiya. Now it was time for the personal one, the one that reacquires of reminiscence and steadiness within memories that while Jiraiya would never forget, was not ready to showcase to Naruto of all people, presently.

‘I…’ "He was not the only apprentice I had. During the war, I came across three small children in Amegakure, two boys and a girl. The three of them, homeless, motherless, and fatherless. Given that they would not survive alone, I decided to remain and teach them how to defend themselves. Having done so, after what ought to be over two years, I left them to their care, for I had an obligation to my work, my village. Time after I learn about their deaths." Looking down. "Your father came to my care within the genin ranks, meaning he too had two partners, just as you were team 7, we were team 4, my first experience as a teacher. That didn't end well either. At that point, it was your father's prowess that I thought kept him alive, for it was hard for me to attribute his survival to my teachings, given my record. I… There wasn't anything that led me to believe that I would be appropriate to take care of you. They gave me the option out and I took it. I knew my behavior and manners were far from what a young child needed. I haven't stayed in the village for more than three months since I was not a lot younger than you. I didn't have any experience with these things and I believe myself unfit for them, insecure of my capabilities, I believe for certain that I would have been doing more damage than goods by staying. After long thought, I accepted my options and waited till you were older so then I could train you."

"..." Naruto remained silent. Was he saying that it was best to leave him alone?

"What do you have to say about all that, Naruto?" Jiraiya took his chance, putting all his cards on the table. Had he bet right or wrong, he hopes that he was about to know.

It took a second for Naruto to continue.

"This is my homeland, the birthplace of my ancestors, right? I don't want to look at you right now. I'm going in there and I don't want to see you." He didn't take his red eyes away from him. "The idea of me being like this, like I'm feeling right now, the desire to hurt you, is an idea that I don't want to face nor be at no point at all."

Jiraiya was about to leave him, thinking he got the point, but without being vindictive, Naruto didn't let him go so easily.

"I understand your reasons, that you think they may be reasonable at least. But I too grasp the fact that you are a coward. You waited for the moment we were both isolated. When I'm in desperate need of what you offer. You didn't tell me this in Konoha fully aware that I could have told you to go fuck yourself and that I would not train with someone who instead of working so he was almost fit to take care of me as an infant, just embraced the idea of abandoning me. Now I can't do that. You weren't willing to accept everything that came with your actions. You waited till I was encaged, where I have no other way but to forgive you for any chance of facing what's coming our way or even getting the fuck out of here and getting home.”

This was utterly ridiculous in Naruto’s mind.

“This place has no value to me, to my life. It wasn't more appropriate than any other. No more appropriate that the market we passed at the border, certainly not more than their home, the place I was to live, in my home village.” He emphasized that point. “Now I'm obliged to do what you want, or at least, not losing it enough for it to be close to what you initially thought. I'm not stupid Jiraiya! I won't let you walk out of this thinking this was noble, the right thing to do. I won't either bother asking who else knew because you can't grasp how close I am on going absolutely berserk on you," As Naruto claimed that, he raised his hand so Jiraiya could see the hand healed, that yet had blood droops on it, evaporating almost at a crazy degree. His eyes turning blue as he regained control, showing him that this was not the Nine-Tails talking, but himself. "What was the worry? That I would have shouted it out, that I couldn't hold it? That every last one of you has felt entitled over what I'm to know and therefore be in my fucking life." The hate that comes from those eyes didn't need any shade of color to be understood, grasped.

With that Naruto venture into the ruins, fuming, while a saddened Jiraiya, who had no comeback for that, went to the hill nearby, so he could see the surrounded area. Saddened but aware that this needed to be done. Naruto had to come to terms with who he was and he needed answers that are imperative, in his eyes, to signify yourself. He needed to know of his past to face his future.

* * *

Naruto entered his room and kneeled so he could pick up something from his bag. An armband.

"What is that, Naruto-boy?" Naruto turned to Fukasaku, who he thought he was already sleeping. "I have seen you look at it from time to time".

"I wish it could be the symbol of a rebirth, but that chance perish by the choice of those who were supposed to carry it out." Naruto handed it to him.

When Fukasaku stared at it, the first thing he could grasp was the particular red color of the cloth. Blood like type of red. As he stretched his arms so he could see the length of the garment, he saw the Uzumaki symbol in the middle of it.

Funny enough, the red that usually permeated that circle, the swirl within, was actually white and before it, upon it, a small hand that seems to hold it or actually breaking out of it, with the pinky broken. His sight wasn't that great. A grey hand that seems to dissipate around the edges. Fukasaku wondered what the symbols represented. Naruto looks battered, tired. Maybe this wasn't the best time to ask.

"Something you're ready to share?" Fukasaku asked with clear respect. He knew or rather guessed, that Naruto never had that much care for his mother's village, much less when they seemed to kick her out of it, an ostracism kind of affair, giving her to another villa against her wishes for her to be a Jinchūriki.

"It ain't that interesting, just fitting I guess," Naruto didn't answer the question with that.

"Why not wear it?"

"I want to live up to that hand. I thought maybe I could by learning Sage justu… I don't know, that maybe I would be ready. Now, knowing what the village I defend has done makes me question that belief." Naruto looked nonchalantly.

Fukasaku respected Naruto's decision not to share. Leaving him to be…

* * *

Everything that had happened, everything that had been said, was done from the very shore of the beach, with the waves gradually approaching their feet. Little by little, with fury and determination, Naruto moved away from what in real terms was the only figure he could call a family.

He entered the insular landscape, with complete ignorance of what lay in front of him, its dangers were of no value to him. He could not articulate even two phrases in his mind without needing a pause in order not to overheat a mind that was clearly staged, overcrowded. What a weight had been just put on his shoulders. All that he always wanted to know throughout his life.

In none of his dreams or concomitant thoughts would the answers be those, all charged with an unparalleled weight. Naruto right now was even frustrated by the idea that he would end up forgiving Jiraiya and who knows if even his father. Why did he feel he had to?

There was palpable pain, melancholy, and dishonor in both Jiraiya's face, voice, the trembling tone of it as he elucidated what he was hiding. They had to work on it long and hard, but the old man could have done more, meant to do more.

Now that Naruto was thinking about it, it was surreal in all its facets. The first memories he had of his godfather were the reluctant one, running away from him, and refusing to teach him anything. He stole all the money he had saved, without returning it later. To an orphan! Literally stealing from an orphan. There was no excuse, not even the fact that part of what he has economically is thanks to Jiraiya. That went to maintenance, that money was merely intended to pay the rent and food. What little was leftover was so insignificant that buying more clothes or other basic staff prior to his own salary once he became genin was nothing but an erroneous judgment or an impossibility, a commodity he couldn’t afford.

With his head still looking at the ground, he avoided bending his ankles between the various oversized stones that wrapped the ground. Looking to the side, aware that these stones did not belong there, he saw their origin. A collapsed pillar or a statue. The ravages of time had made it indistinguishable. Remembering where he was, Naruto looked upfront. For that place, in another dimension, who knows, could have been even his home. In the distance, encircling the trees, a notably larger structure, on its cusp, the stones fell at the rhythm the birds settled when deciding to rest upon them.

Little by little, the place exposed its elements in a more discernible way. His mother's birthplace.

Once past the weed and vegetation that still covered the whole vision of the place, he saw the land. Becoming surprised before the dimensions of it. He had no conception of what scales the island had, so he did not dare to postulate what was the ratio of the city and the island itself, but it seemed to occupy a large part of it. Engrossed, he took two steps forward and consciously rushed to the lower level of what must have been a house.

The water of the river that surrounded, in a uniform, almost artificial way, the middle of the town, mentioned town being flooded. Everything was visible once he got through the front door of the house.

Glimpsing, looking from side to side in search of an exception that evaded the norm, the destruction, and the passage of time. What the hell had happened in this place? Naruto wondered. It bothered him not to know. The ivy and vegetation varied, reign over the ruins, there was no stench of death or decomposition. In his nostrils, only petrichor.

In the distance he saw him, watching, fulfilling his silent promise to give him space. Showing that from time to time, Jiraiya kept his word. He saw him leaning against a tree. It was far away, but it was still clearly visible.

It was curious to see such a large place designed to house so much life and yet so quiet. There was merely the wind and the different noises, whether croaks or others, that made the fauna of the mediations. With all the time of the world ahead, he allowed himself to venture into the various homes, a vocational interest.

There was no door to knock on, but stones and debris to set aside. He skillfully mediated between the irregular relief shown beneath his feet. Whatever could have possessed the quality of being withered, vanished. Remaining utensils, wood gnawed, with structures in the brick of falling. Scrolls scattered on the ground next to unstitched fabrics. With the vegetation invading the house in an iron exercise of revenge.

All the secrets of what must have been hundreds of families, families of his lineage, at his fingertips, without the need to use any force. Without even having entered the fourth house, he realized a quality that was hegemonic among all of them, among all the paintings that had not yet evaporated, they were all redheads! Yes, it had to be a dominant gene. The photos that did not rest on the floor had not eluded the cracking in any of their parts either. Honestly, he didn't look so much like many of them. Nor did his mother, whose photo hadn't left his hand, as he continuously looked at it.

Without having to venture from room to room, one by one, he decided on the most pragmatic decision. Naruto sincerely wanted to know their stories, however much he could know of each of them based on how much was left, the different faces, each of their clans, their families, their tendencies, and traditions. It was invasive, but he hoped that they would not mind such acts at the hands of one of their last breathing members. He was neither an archaeologist nor an anthropologist, but with an exhaustive exercise that it would cost others an entire life to do, to detail, he hoped that thanks to his celebrated skill, in less than that he could grasp, he could look and understand enough. Without further redo he did it, he multiplied.

He did not choose any place in particular to search himself, the original I mean. He walked lethargically, looking at the immensity that surrounded him and Kushina's photo.

Sporadically thinking of everything. Expectant that the copies he made of himself would voraciously venture into a historical dimension of the world and his being. In the distance the old man watched consciously, unable to avoid raising his hand to his face. This boy did not know what awaited him once he dispersed them, he better land on a friendly surface, not rocky, that was for sure.

In his mental state, he will pass out once they are dispersed.

Five minutes in, who knows how many feet, and there appeared something that Naruto didn't like, had a sensation that ran through his aorta, that prevented him from feeling comfortable. His chest weighed and his head became disoriented. Adventurously sitting down to take a breath and rest his legs. Him not having a shock or direct fainting before was miraculous.

Looking at his left, he saw something surreal amid all this humanless mirage. A horrifying statue. The details on it were unfathomable. Unbeknown to what seems to be the real course of reality, here remained something your eyes wouldn't believe. Naruto had to test his. Closing them, passing his forearm over them.

No sculptor could shape something with such precision, not even with a magical chisel. Carved in something, Naruto thought without precision or knowledge of the material, he just knew it was something, were two figures. A little girl bracing a man from something, raising her hand as if she could stop whatever was incoming.

While the man seems to be peaceful, in his slumber with his eyes closed, she seemed to have met whatever she was in front of her head-on. Whatever that was could have not been a welcome sight looking at the girl.

Why would anyone carve this purposely?

Naruto was so obdurate in what was in front of him that he didn't hear what they didn't expect to remain on this island… Who rather than what.

"You don't want to know the story behind it, young man."

* * *

Back in the present...

"Where are we going?" Naruto wondered, looking at Jiraiya. It had to be a special occurrence if so many toads appeared out of nowhere to accompany them to whenever they were going.

Expectant.

"To meet with the elder toad," Jiraiya confessed. Looking at Naruto, he could tell that the elder hadn't been mentioned to him until now.

Jiraiya recalled the first words the old toad ever told him, 'In my dream, you, who are solely pervy, will still manage to become a splendid shinobi. And will come to stand on your own two feet. Acquiring disciples…'. And how could he forget the prediction of leading, teaching, the revolutionary person who was to change the world. The critical choice he had to make. He would like to think that the first one came to fruition. Why couldn't the second one?

Naruto was about to ask what for, but seeing as he was referred to as Lord Elder, it might be important.

The moment they stepped into his shelter, Naruto saw the old toad, surrounded by scrolls that ought to be a million times bigger than the ones Jiraiya carries. Centuries of history could fit into one chapter with those sizes. He was sitting in a shallow pool of water.

The place seems ancient as well. A part of it had an open dome.

"Naruto-boy, Gamamaru-sama has foreseen something in your future," advertised Fukasaku with a bit of reverence for the elder toad.

Shima could see Naruto baffled. The chances were that like with her food, he will try to be respectful and all, honestly disliking what he had eaten or the bullshit that he was about to be fed forcefully.

There was no wonderment in Naruto's face. Just a doubt-filled mind that nodded out of respect, not about to berate no one for just saying these things out loud. If Ma and Pa were ancient, how old was this guy again?

"How good that you came," Gamamaru said as he lingered in the silence. With his eyes closed… Whenever he closed his mouth for a minute, it could invite the thought that he had fallen asleep. Or dead. It would take a minute for him to open them all again. "Who are you?"

Jiraiya facepalmed, 'Not again'. He was having a déjà vu. He understood Naruto's reluctance to be here, knowing him. Staring up right now, one could hardly believe that this elder could see nothing in the future, nothing with the precision that he claims to have.

"Naruto-boy, the Lord Elder has had a dream about you, he has foreseen a prophecy," Exclaimed with excitement Fukasaku, a sentiment that Naruto didn't share.

Without further ado… The elder raised his trembling hand and pointed at Naruto.

"In my dream, I see you face a young man with powerful eyes, his is the choice to walk beside you or to fight against you, yours is the choice of stopping him or embracing him. Know that with each choice, the moment in time they each happened, there will be death and that those who do not walk the path you do, could help you when not imprisoned by the commands you have. That reign over you. Know that you will have to choose between more lives than you could fathom and that you're not going to be able to do much under the shadow of what protects that forehead of yours. Not enough to what is required."

'Not much of a spoiler.' Thought Naruto. He was to face Sasuke, he didn't need this to know of that. Unless he meant Itachi…

Naruto understood that the way this elder framed his words were of guidance, not orders. There may be ulterior intentions to what he claimed.

Why did they have to speak in riddles? He didn’t know. Instead of just saying under the command of the Leaf, he said under the shadow of what protects that forehead of yours; it wasn't the most complex thing in the world, but what problem did he have with saying things clearly?

Gamamaru continued his warning, talking about tails. Again, not much of a surprise to Naruto, both Gamamaru and Fukasaku could see Naruto's disbelief and skepticism. They could almost hear the internal shout of Naruto, rejecting everything that came after the word destiny. Once he heard that he was actually done. Both toads looked to one another.

"Something wrong, Naruto-boy?" Asked Fukusaku to the annoyance of his wife, who hoped for him to shut up so they could be done with this. Naruto shook his head.

"Speak your mind freely, youngling." Invited the elder.

Naruto was reluctant, he was tolerant towards their beliefs, but didn’t accept them. Not wanting to cause a stir. He didn’t know if it was blasphemous to disregard or dispute the elder’s word… Being among them, although for a short time, he betted that it was not. Hoped. "There's no need. I'm not trying to be disrespectful.” Seeing as their stare didn’t cease… “If I were I to speak, inadvertently, I would be by no desire of my own." Said Naruto with honesty and respect.

The elder just extended his hand for him to speak, regardless. Sighing, Naruto did. "I don't believe in destiny, Lord Elder. I'm opposed to the mere idea of it, fight against it. I cannot believe that all that I went through was nothing more than a part of the preparation so I could fulfill that notion. I have beaten the odds to survive my past and be here right now, where I'm at.” He may be the son of a kage, but he wasn’t entitled to anything by it… Only recently gain knowledge of it. He is poor, persecuted, loathed…Hunted. “I had an active role in that happening, I harvested things so I could survive, I had help, but since I was 7, I had to do many things on my own. There was no destiny in that. My destiny one could say was to starve to death, to be beaten to death. My parents didn't die for any prophecy to be plausible."

Fukasaku was to intervene. Without knowing why, he looked towards his life partner, who same wise turned to him and with a simple stare told him all there was to it, to not utter a word and let them discuss.

The voice of a thousand years waited, carefully listening to the boy before him. His ability to process speech had decayed long ago. This was one conversation worth making the extra effort.

"Jiraiya already mentioned his prophecy, I just didn't know that it was yours. Given that he's not training anybody else, he probably believes that I'm that certain figure, that revolutionary. The one who will bring stability or destruction, the one who could bring peace." Naruto looked at all the toads that were in the room as he said his next words, aware that in no moment would the elder tell him if he was or not that figure. "I don't know if I am or not. And the thing is that I would like to be one among the many that try to bring peace to this world, for the consequences they entailed, not to live up to you or your predicament. It's just a common wish." Naruto claimed, thinking that it was absurd to believe that a sole person could bring or lead something of such magnitude.

"That you will have not within you were Jiraiya boy to have not written that novel, to have traveled and seeing the state of the world and told you about his own hopes and dreams. His experience. If not for that, you could remain blinded by your desire to be Hokage and do whatever it pleased a village that you now know is corrupted. Without it, you will still see those within their walls as all allies."

How did he know about that? Naruto stole a glance at Shima, she at Fukasaku, and her husband at the crystal ball near the elder, his Tōmegane no Jutsu. Shima hated that dubious technique.

Back to the last uttered words. That was not a chance. It wasn't true since long before Naruto ever met Mizuki. He didn't divinize Konoha. 

Seeing that the Elder was elevating his rhetoric through the conversation, Naruto interrupted.

"Don't make this a matter of rhetoric, because in that I will lose." Naruto looked at the Elder. If the elder was to mention all the consequences that his acts had... "Being named the chosen one... It forces the others to give you an abstract value of transformative nature by which they put your life ahead of their own. It's a false concept that just does that. Gives abstract value. I don't want anyone to die for me just so I could live up to something that ain't there, that ain't objective, but just your point of view. You aren't describing something that exists outside, you are producing and transforming a situation, operating on it to your own desires…"

Naruto had thought long about this, dedicating hours and chats with Jiraiya after reading his book, the book after which they named him.

"But you're the Nine Tail Jinchuriki, doesn't that already warrant the fact that you ought to be protected? Your life doesn't have the same value as others. Young man, if you were to die, the same fate could be expected for the rest of us. If so, the chosen one just adds value so you are more protected… Doesn't that work in the end?" Debated the Elder Toad. Despite his constant hoarseness, his slow pace speech, he was incisive. More fluent and cognisant that either Shima or Fukusaku could recall.

He missed a sound here and there, was eventually forgetful, but proved to indulge and dispute in this conversation. Showcasing his years and one could say, his wisdom.

"No." Naruto simply put. "That's just creating a system of belief."

"Which is a recurrent and omnipresent process present in the shinobi world. Is it that bad to create one that protects you and therefore the rest of us instead of one that devalues you to the point where you don't want to fight?" Gamamaru explained. "You will go after that hope of peace. If there's something that could help you galvanize the people, it could be that title."

"I don't want nobody to die for me!" Naruto exclaimed with passion. Not under the pretense of a title that he did not have or earn. Nobody should solely have it.

"Who says that they are doing it for you? Many of the people that will die for you would not even know you, they are just protecting those they care, die under the pretense that those they love will live…Live long in the most comfortable of circumstances." Which meant that Naruto was going to be given a value, an objectification, just in some other manner to the one present. "That you will fulfill their wish for those they care for. For them to continue living".

"And if I don't live up to that?"

"Then you will be like all the shinobis before you. Your father, the First Hokage, and all of those in other villages. Care not for what they died for so much, if it weren't for the previous example and beliefs many will simply walk to the other world under the belief that they're protecting their nation if not for more hollow stuff. Pride, a promotion, greed, money..." The lord elder directly stated.

The discussion progressed, Naruto not having any of it. He knew better than to get into a logical, rhetorical argument with someone of the elder's age. The old man didn’t need sophistry.

As soon as he could leave, he did. Not having benefited in any way from this.

* * *

A month and two weeks later...

Rather than staying for one month like originally planned, they would end up staying double that time. Jiraiya foresaw one thing that he missed back then, for Naruto to not just train more in his Sage Mode, but to combine his abilities with the toads that he will summon in battle.

Working in his chemistry with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu and to get to know the rest of the seasoned toads and their capacities, their chakra affinities. Writing them in a book so he could recall them perfectly, knowing who to call to battle depending on who he was facing.

Naruto's idea of gathering nature chakra with his clones while he was fighting so he could keep it activated for longer was brilliant, cunning. Jiraiya didn’t expect that, never had thought of that. The part that they yet had to get a hold on was for Naruto, Ma, and Pa to work fluently together, harmonically.

Seeing the three of them stumbling made Jiraiya wonder if he was ever like that. With this Naruto added to his repertoire, thanks to Ma and Pa, the one thing he had repeatedly proven to be incapable of, Genjutsu. Just like Jiraiya.

Obviously, for that, they would need to train on it from time to time. If there ever was the chance to accomplish it, it was thanks to Kurama, who had let them connect with Naruto. Which earned him a thanks from Naruto, who cherished the idea that they were making progress.

Soon enough time was up, it was time for goodbyes.

"Don't be a stranger Naruto, Jiraiya-boy, okay?" Lovingly warned Shima. Knowing that Naruto still had a bittersweet taste after the conversation with that ancient toad.

"We won't. I promise," Naruto claimed as he looked at the remaining toads that were there, Gamakichi, Gamabunta, Gamatatsu, and Fukasaku. Having no clue how to get out of here, hoping it was not on foot.

"Don't sweat it. It's not like we won't see each other for decades, there are still too many things to train on for the time being," Jiraiya said as he once again was on the move. Why did he ever bother to buy a house in Konoha? He didn't have a clue. Maybe he could lend it to Naruto… A light bulb popped in his head.

Actually, yeah, it wasn't at all a bad idea. Maybe Naruto could reject it with resentment for a thing here or there… But it was a perfect idea. It was bigger than his current one, in a nicer part of town, and he had stored his parents' things there. He could lend him the keys and show it to him when they got home.

To Naruto's surprise, they did nothing special to get out of Mount Myōboku. It was not anticlimactic of anything of shorts; it was just that in one moment they were there and another reverse summoning after they were here. Wait a minute, where was that here again?

* * *

In Konoha

Sakura was walking through the village, today was her free day. A rare occurrence that happened once or twice every week. It's not like she had her schedule fully occupied, but the time that was not filled with training, hospital shifts, and more training, she filled it herself with more training. God forgive the redundancy.

Someone had told her she had become a bore, half-jokingly, while another one simply told her to take a break and enjoy life. That's what it was for. She honestly had no idea of what to do or plan, so searched for a certain being that could.

"So you manage to convince Tsunade to let you go to the Chunin exams, huh?" Ino asked. The certain being.

"Yeah, something like that," Sakura said, recalling the conditions she had promised to fulfill for her to be allowed to do that.

"You will see, we will go up the charts in no time," exclaimed Ino with a smile, while Sakura looked at her with a bit of admiration. She had progressed the most out of all of them, with Anko at the helm of her training.

Sakura was still focused on surpassing her, still seeing her as her rival and all, but that didn't refrain her from acknowledging her accomplishments.

She was changing for the better, mostly…

Ino was the one to convince her to join her and Choji in the exams, to go against her sensei’s wishes. When Sakura first told Ino that she was maybe planning on waiting for her teammates to do it, Ino smacked her on the head and she was right to do so.

Both had decided to stop regretting the last two years of their relation, that they stopped being friends over the attention of Sasuke.

It was a two-way stream, actually. Ino could recall resenting Sakura, seconds after encouraging her to show herself to the world and praising her for her style, once she said she liked the same boy as she did back then. That was a first childish response that lasted an instant, but in the end, it was Sakura's decision and way of acting that led to all that proceeded. Ino forgave her, called her Forehead once more, and told her to not give it much thought, so they could go back into being friends.

Sakura tried to forget, but she couldn't help feeling guilty about giving her back to the first one to help her. That suggested her to show her insecurities and face them. To offer to be her friend.

Between laughter and banter, the afternoon went flying and before they knew it they were in the Ichiraku spot, of all places. Naruto had asked Sakura to go to that stand from time to time and eat there. When asked why, Naruto simply responded that not only was the food amazing and more varied than she thought, but mainly that the people that worked there were the kindest of them all and that she could be of great help to their business if she simply ate there once a month. That baka had a great heart and a wonderful taste. In the past months, they had developed new plates under the design of Ayame and they were delicious. She had grown a bit fond of the place, to be honest.

Tonight she was longing to eat there. She was so focused on her food that she didn't notice Hinata walk by. Thankfully, someone did.

"Hinata! Hinata!" Ino shouted. Her loudness was something that didn't change. The opposite. It increased.

"Hello Sakura-San, Ino-San." Politely responded Hinata, as she approached them.

"Oh! For the love of God Hinata, leave the honorific already, we have known each other since we were as flat as Sakura is right now," Ino earned a punch in the shoulder for that. "Itte, that hurt."

"It ought to," Sakura responded, fuming.

It was still a touchy feeling. Sakura had grown in all senses, and while curvaceous, she didn’t compare to Ino and Hinata of all people in what related to bosom size. They had grown… But were half Ino’s size. It affected her more than it should.

Also, sharing time with Tsunade all day didn’t help…

"Take a joke, girlfriend,” Ino protested, still caressing and rubbing her shoulder. She could see the redness. Turning to their teammate… “Hinata, come sit with us! It's not a petition or a suggestion. Get your ass here, you little deviant." Suggestively teased Ino. Portraying an imperative tone, being playful.

"Deviant?" Asked Hinata with still some, barely, remaining of her stammering. The three of them hadn't grown that acquainted, so why not take the chance?

"Oh, we all know what you use those eyes of yours for," Ino teased, smirking as Hinata's face turned red. She didn’t know if to wink, maybe she would pass out after that. "Not that I blame you, at times I would like to steal a glance myself."

Sakura was too on the prude side with Hinata in this type of matter. The external Sakura rather, the image she portrayed, tried to. Her inner self was more siding with Ino, even surpassing her kinkiness.

"Ino leave her alone," Sakura ordered her, blushing. "She's just messing with you, Hinata, don't take her seriously."

Hinata surprised both of them with her laughter. She was too cute and innocent for her own good, so much so that both Ino and Sakura felt almost the need to hug her. They haven't seen her smile like that… Ever.

The conversation started, Ayame joined later on as she served one last dish to Hinata before closing the kitchen. They talked first about the Chunin exams and work for mere affinity purpose, but thanks to Ino any subject that related to their work was no longer uttered. They could talk as friends, sharing other things.

"Actually Hinata, I have been meaning to ask you, but why the sudden change," everyone looked at Ino when she asked that. "What? It was a long time coming. Not to dishearten you honey, but it was due time that you could speak two sentences out loud. We all can say with certainty that we're proud."

"I don't know," Hinata answered, not wanting to go on should it all lead to...

"I mean, was it because that blonde idiot disappeared? You couldn't be in the same room with that guy without fainting. You have it bad for him, don't you?" Ino asked to the dislike of Hinata and the bewilderment of both Sakura and Ayame.

Ayame suddenly went back to cleaning the few remaining things that in an attack of laziness she promised to clean tomorrow. She knew perfectly well of that conversation between her little brother and the Hyuga.

Hinata thought that they already knew which made her mad at the thought of them questioning that, knowing it would not bring her any good things, vibrations let’s say.

"You know perfectly well why, don't you have better things to ask?" Hinata asked, angered. Her tone didn't reflect that emotion. She didn’t raise her tone that much, she was still Hinata after all.

"Know what?" Both asked with surprise.

"That Naruto rejected me," Hinata said, baffled, as she thought that they were just playing with her.

"WHAT?" Ino shouts in disbelief. How could she don't know of it if everyone seems to be so fucking aware and already fucking know it?

Hinata told them all that happened, eluding some parts and toning it down in the drama facet. She was not that open or outspoken person, this wasn't the particular subject where to act differently.

"... and that's the last time I saw him," Hinata proclaimed at the end.

Ino cursed that Shikamaru and Choji didn't tell her. She was going to get them for it. Obviously, Hinata didn't mention the part where Naruto talked about Sakura, so the mentioned woman's reaction was solely based on what to make of it.

The conversation didn't linger for much longer, Ayame masterfully intervened to stop Ino’s relentless onslaught of questions, showing how much of a skillful topic-changer she was. She achieved a smooth transition with few words and a new interesting subject. Half an hour later and all stood up and said their respective goodbyes.

Ino and Sakura were walking back home.

"Wow, didn't expect that," Sakura was still shocked by it.

"You don't say." What roamed in Ino's mind again was how could nobody tell her.

"When he gets back, I am going to smack..." Sakura was interrupted.

"Why?" Ino asked, trying to see what he did that could warrant such a response. "It's not like he lied to her. He was honest, and I don’t know how, because that baka may be as clueless as they come, but he noticed that Hinata had feelings for him and he faced her.” How he noticed was a wonder. She had to do an investigation… “He could have perfectly shined away from that discussion, and our Hinata would still be obsessed with him to an unhealthy degree.” ‘Although I don’t think she’s moved on yet.’ Ino thought to herself. “I mean, he didn't allow her to remain hopeful of something that would never happen. I think it was actually brave and kind for as heartless as it may seem in the moment."

"Yeah, but… I mean, what does that have to do with anything? He hurt her," As Sakura said that, Ino's stare focused on hers, calling her on her bullshit. She knew perfectly well that what she was saying didn't make any sense, so why the jumpiness? Was it because of Naruto?

"Ok, so what's this about?" Ino looked at Sakura, who didn't have an answer. Ino decided, given that Sakura didn't reply, that she was just gonna poke fun at her. "Are you certain that you ain't somewhat mad that she's gotten over her crush and is enjoying being in the dating pool while you just are still set on yours?" Ino wiggled her eyebrows comically, inciting. Putting her arm around Sakura's shoulders.

“What? Who says I'm not...” Sakura saw that look of disbelief in Ino again as she was going to argue against that. “So what? You ain't over him either!” ‘Not to point out that Hinata doesn’t seem to have completely moved on.’ Thought Sakura.

"I so am!" Ino responded with a widespread smile as she showed off how proud she was of herself.

"What?" How could it be? Sakura was not about to believe that.

"What what?"

"What do you mean you're over Sasuke? Since when?" Sakura asked her previous love rival?

Ino's smile faded and suddenly she got serious, like she needed to point this out.

She was looking out for her friend, Sasuke be damned.

"Sakura, look. You know what I felt for Sasuke. I am not saying it's all gone, alright? But I had nothing to uphold it to. I talked to both my parents and Asuma. Unlike you, I didn't share time with him to validate my feelings for him and with all honesty you can't expect me to not resent him, hate him even a little. He almost cost me the life of Choji and Shikamaru." Sakura looked shocked and immediately down to the floor, aware of the truth. Albeit she never expected Ino of all people to take the realms of reason. "If Shikamaru did that, or Choji, and you lost them, you would resemble me. And unlike you, I have been with them since we were babies for our parents' bond. It was that bond that led them to have us at the same time. Your team is not the only one with a powerful bond." Said Ino, taking Sakura back.

"I never said that," proclaimed Sakura in a defensive stance.

"But the way you act as if we can't comprehend suggests that. Since we have been talking once again, for which I'm grateful, when you talk about them you almost, always explain everything to me as if I couldn't comprehend basic things such as your desire to protect them." Added Ino, calmly.

"Sorry." Utter Sakura. Unaware that she did that.

"It's alright." Ino took a breath before thinking about how to explain what she had in mind. "My father told me that love and emotions are senseless most times, but nonetheless he sat down with me and asked me why I like him. What had he done for me? To rationalize some of my feelings and to not see him only in the way I had imagined him in my head."

"What did you say?" Asked Sakura, interested.

"I told him how handsome he is. Let's not kid ourselves." Both smiled and said, "He is."

"How capable and cool he is. He is different. Be it obvious that he isn't the soul of the party, but honestly, I don't think that's my type."

'Don't want someone to step on your line now, do you?' Thought Sakura with a smirk.

"But when it comes to what he did for me, as I heard myself talk, I realized how much of a one-sided relationship it was. My father even dared writing some of it for me to realize, saying how immature some of it was and downplaying how we feel towards love at our age. He said neither us nor them are mature or perfect in this. He told me he wasn't a savant of love and that sadly many of the men in this village weren't at ease with neither those romantic feelings or any emotions. Making the more important for me to search for one, that is. He told me that while still ignorant he could guide me through this conundrum, he just gave me what he wrote and asked me to read it to myself and give it time to think about it.” It was a before and after. “I may not be completely over him Sakura, it has been only a year. But trust me, I'm getting there. Is easy when the person in question is someone that didn't do a single thing for me. Naruto actually by protecting all, by saving you from Gaara has done more for me, Sakura." Said Ino before she concluded by confronting Sakura with her quandary. "The question that is really important here, is if Sasuke is worthy of the effort and hopes you both put in him?"

"I can't answer that rationally, Ino, but I know he is." Responded Sakura.

As they reached the Yamanaka compound proximities, just about to say goodbye, Ino left Sakura with a vital question.

"It's your life, Sakura. But if my partner’s arm went through the chest of my teammates with an assassination technique," by now everyone knew about it, somehow, "I would think twice if he deserved none of that. You should be grateful that Sasuke didn't kill Naruto that day and be mad, worried that he is still willing to fight beside you to save someone who did that to him. You can’t accept that." And with that, she motioned her to give her a hug and left. "It's all I have to say." Ino closed the door almost immediately after, to increase the dramatic effect.

"Who says that and leaves, Ino-Pig!" Exclaimed Sakura, a bit shocked.

While Sakura would remain thinking for hours, through the night even, in that instant, left alone in front of that door, she didn't last long before coming to a basic conclusion. She knew Ino in some sense was right, but as she said herself, she didn't experience what Sakura did with Sasuke.

Team 7 were the only ones in the village to share a bond with Sasuke, a mere conversation. Outside of that, he didn't talk to anyone. What a solitude and sad life. Her unwise and distasteful words of orphans… She felt horrible about that.

To have lost what he lost. Recently she asked her parents what happened to the Uchiha. Not refraining herself for searching for information after.

There was a moment when she was utterly lost. The script of her life being under the writing of a brute and angry writer, that for some reason has its anger set on the pink-haired teenager, answers and words falling flat into a pond of silence. One day she had Team 7 and most importantly them. Three knuckleheads in their own ways, precious to her in their own manner. One day she had the love of her life by her side, or rather upfront, for Sasuke only gave her his back to stare at, which rather angered her, but nonetheless with her. For the next to thank her for the first time, a showcase of emotion that was rather nonexistent with him, and backstabbing her the second after to leave their home village. One day she had a cheerful boy that drowned her with emotions, antagonistic one to the other, for one day witnessing the drive in his eyes once again light up after she pleaded for his aid, for him to leave in order to save the third member of their team. Only to fail and to savor a close sample of death. Incapable of looking her in the eyes when she visited him in the hospital, bruised in a manner she had never seen, by the hands of none other than Sasuke himself.

They were all that remained and if Naruto didn't flinch in his drive to pursue him, nor would she. They were also her family, and it was part of her ninja way to protect them both. She already had enough of being in the back ride, Haruno Sakura had already taken the steps so she could fight beside them, to be the one who protected them. They were their teammates and her duties. She closed her fist and held it high.

"Shannaro!" Almost shouted Sakura, completely unaware of how late it was.

"Sakura the fuck you're doing shouting like that? Forehead!" Confronted Ino from one window.

Sakura realized what she did and blushed in embarrassment. Looking at Ino at the window she apologized before turning and seeing like eight people looking her like she was dumb or crazy. She wished for the earth to swallow her.

* * *

Back with Naruto and Jiraiya. 

The boy was puzzled.

"Suna? Why are we going to Suna?"

youngany immature animalMore (Definitions, Synonyms, Translation)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I think is quite clear the jumps in the narratives of Uzushiogakure and Mount Myōboku. If not, tell me and I will put it.


	7. Suna's Chunin Exam

What were you doing when you were 15? Few, if any, would answer running a country.

Suna hadn't hosted the chunin since the time of their first kage, Reto. When Gaara offered his village he didn't do so to eradicate the drought, that's not what occupied his thoughts. When Tsunade mentioned their motives to reopen such a vital occurrence in the Shinobi World after the disaster that turned out to be the last one, Gaara was attentive, happening to be part, perpetrator with his village of that mentioned mess.

A mess which prelude was his father's assassination.

Tsunade and Konoha's claim and motives were unsettling at best, but so were his. They wanted to awaken the till now dormant five Great villages, to cause a simple reaction, a stir, and to investigate Akatsuki's movements.

That was the part he was yet to understand. They already knew what they were after.

He understood that in a mass celebration such as this, faces could hide in the crowd, but he didn't think that it was a wise decision to bait those members. Not when the bait was this one. As he looked down at his papers, he could see the report of one shinobi from Takigakure, Fū.

If Jiraiya's information didn't fail him, what he was seeing right now was the file of another jinchūriki, one that would partake in the exams.

The bait of two of them in the same village at the same time was a far bigger risk that he was willing to accept, outside of the one he was already taking, a Sunagakure’s internal related quandary. To his luck, there was nothing he could do about it since they had given him this report way after he proposed to organize this event. After the deal was already closed.

The deal established doing these exams in cooperation with the Leaf and host the two last parts of the exam. The second one in the Demon Desert and the elimination rounds in their crumbling coliseum.

Was his plan of bringing out the traitors within his ranks worth the precarious situation he was to put himself into? He thought so then, but doubt was creeping in.

Two of the three great villas had already rejected appearing in the exams. He was expecting it from Kirigakure, having just ended a small civil war after the passing of Yagura, leaving the country shattered. Kumogakure was another story, honestly, he was thankful they didn't come, with them having two of the five remaining jinchūrikis, without counting Fū and himself, of course, and those who were already caught and killed.

The chance of simply one of them coming… They would be a giant, for now flimsy, target in a dartboard placed at arm's length. Everything set up for the Akatsuki just to swoop in and take at least one of them.

Iwagakure accepted. Funny enough, if some of their shinobis made it past the first two exams into the finals he would probably get to meet Ōnoki, the Kage of their almost neighbor country that had yet to communicate or respond to any of his scrolls sent in the sake of approaching their figurative positions in terms of policies and trade.

The Chunin exams were designed to test the strengths of the villages and gather information, nothing more. Nor a way to interact and reunite the villages in combat that symbolizes times of peace, that's a fallacy, nor it was even designed as a way of venturing the everlasting violence between the villages without the need for war, so they could see the spectacle of beating the shit out of one another, cheering viciously were one of their members to win. The common spectator present conception.

It was none of that. Those who believed otherwise were wrong.

That role of intel gathering was relegated to the Jōnin that were sent with the participants, who ought not to be in the field as pretended genin, the same thing with Chunin.

The exams were a setting where violence was allowed and death could be given, stipulated within the norms that all villages agreed to. Were you to kill someone and resentment will rise, there's no doubt about that, but there won't be a war after that. If it were a Jōnin or a chunin to take part and purposely target other villages’ genins… We are talking about a different thing right there. Dishonor would be an important claim also, but vain in comparison.

Besides, he had already made it clear to the supervisors of this exam to elude any deaths that were to occur.

What worried Gaara is the lack of intel in some of these villages' ranked members… Afraid of one of those cheating shinobis to go by their radar. He worries that Akatsuki infiltrates someone in the exam through one of these less known villages.

Where did Akatsuki operate from? Could they send someone to take part undercover? If so, and they targeted this Fū girl, they would end up inadvertently revealing themselves.

Overthinking and analyzing were as common for a Kage as breathing, a natural embedded system. Was nothing ever simple in their world?

He could recall rumbling on like this about a week before the first exam took place.

Thankfully, Temari stopped him by giving him a briefing about how many were taking part overall in the exam. 45 from the Leaf, 30 from the Land of Earth, 12 from the Rain, 9 from the Grass, 3 from the Frost, 3 from the Waterfall, and 36 of their own. 138 participants, a decrease of fifteen shinobi.

Taking into account the lack of trust after the previous fiasco and the circumstances that were happening in certain villages, plus the exclusion of Otogakure from participating, and you could say with ease that it was not that big of a fall from the last one taken in Konoha.

Now what Gaara was waiting for was the incoming report of the results of that first exam, just so he could know how many people they would host. A simple update of that first report for those remaining participants will arrive tomorrow.

He didn't have to wait long.

Two knocks were heard. It was due time.

"Come in," Said Gaara, loud enough. Temari entered the room.

"I have a briefing on the final numbers. Would you like to hear them?" Asked his sister only for Gaara to shake his head, saying there was no need. To give him the paper instead.

| 

Participants 1

| 

Participants 2

| 

Participants 3  
  
---|---|---|---  
  
Wind (Sunagakure)

| 

36

| 

24

|   
  
Fire (Konohagakure)

| 

45

| 

24

|   
  
Earth (Iwagakure)

| 

30

| 

15

|   
  
Rain (Amegakure)

| 

12

| 

6

|   
  
Grass (Kusagakure)

| 

9

| 

6

|   
  
Frost (Shimogakure)

| 

3

| 

3

|   
  
Waterfall (Takigakure)

| 

3

| 

3

|   
  
Total

| 

138

| 

81

|   
  
"Quality over quantity." Said inadvertently Gaara out loud, seeing the high rate of failure among the great villas in comparison to the nonexistent in the case of the Frost, Amegakure, Takigakure... The Frost? He had completely forgotten that Shimogakure was here.

He was glad that two-thirds of his shinobi made it past. A better rate than Konoha and Iwa. He guessed that coming home to do the remaining of the exam was motivation enough. The advantage of knowing the desert in the second facet of this test will mean the world for them.

"Huh?" Said Temari, who hadn't caught what he said.

"Nothing." Gaara looked outside his window at his village. With luck, there won't be any sandstorms in the incoming week. "Is everything ready?" Asked Gaara.

Temari nodded.

* * *

"Tche! Imagine having to live here and having to put up with this extreme heat every fucking day." Claimed Ino, giving voice to all the shinobi of Konoha concomitant thoughts before emulating her friend. "What a drag."

Choji laughed, the Suna Jōnin that was guiding them… Not so much.

Sakura meanwhile was chatting with Hinata as they all approached the entrance of Suna. Konoha's traveling party, the delegation, was composed of 8 genin teams with all their respective senseis. None of the younglings were looking forward to fighting under this heat in the desert.

If weather acclimatization was to be translated into a ranking, given the advantage that it was, Konoha wouldn't be by no stretch of the imagination in that upper tier. Punctually, their winters were hellishly cold, for as oxymoronic as that may sound. The rest of the seasons were mild, never reaching this temperature. Nowhere close.

All the other villages would probably rank above them, excluding the Frost, of course. Those ought to be suffering.

The entire trip, the three days, and the accommodation to the facilities that Suna put in place for the participants, where to rest and eat before the second exam, was smooth, stress-free. It was well organized and had proven safe for now.

The participants were to remain in one building while their teachers stayed in another, close. All shinobis in hunger for a promotion, who at the moment were just about to start their dinner, together for a few hours before they got to see each other as enemies with the sunrise.

Cheering, carefree nature, ease… Those pleasing social environment adjectives didn't reign over the room during the dinner. There wasn't that much chit chat between members of the different hidden villages, whether reign sincere animosity among them, in between them, was another thing. There wasn't chat even between the sand and the Leaf, who officially were allies. Hell… Even the teams from Konoha didn't venture much into talking with another member they didn't previously know.

"What do you think? Like walking back again into that room, back then," Said Ino to Sakura as she thought of the classroom where they took the first chunin exam, ever. They were more easily scared back then.

"You guys made quite the scene back then, try to not draw all the attention to us." Recalled Tenten, they didn't know them then and as far as first impressions went, theirs wasn't the best.

"Don't worry, we didn't bring Naruto, so there are no chances of one of us shouting out that we will beat everyone else," Mentioned Ino as her stare turned to Kiba, just in case. "Right?" Kiba was looking somewhere.

"I wouldn't be so sure. There's some chick from Iwa that hasn't taken her eyes from us since we got here." Said Choji.

"She probably likes what she's seeing. Can't blame her." Braggingly utter Kiba. That was where he was looking, after all.

Ino laughed in response, Hinata could only smile.

"Yeah, no please, go talk to her." Ino claims with a smile, showcasing certainty. "I didn't reckon that she was looking at us with lust until you said it. Now I'm certain. Go after her, wild boy." Ino stifled a laugh. A shoulder found its way to her ribs, Sakura's, who warned her she played too much.

Shino had to stop Kiba from actually going. If Kiba genuinely thought that there was a desire for him in those eyes… He would have problems that Shino foresaw he would probably have to save him from if they remained in teams and missions together.

The tension and ambition were palpable. One wrong move and it could be highly conceivable that a small brawl could start.

There was one outlier in what refers to attitude, though.

"Will you two relax, let's be amicable. We've come here to make friends!" A couple of people heard Fū shouting, looking at her in disbelief. The two official Jonin, for now, genin, that accompanied her, to protect her, warn her.

"No, we are here because you didn't give Shibuki-sama another chance," Yōrō mentioned. She was spoiled to no avail. 'You knucklehead.'

"You know that this ain't no playground, Fū. No matter how you pretend to see it, it ain't. Look the part of the Shinobi you are, for god sakes."Added Kegon. They were only here so she could get out of the village for once. She was no genin either, already a highly regarded chunin. Kegon was already worried enough as it was, wondering if she could go after the Kazekage and shout out who she was and who she carried.

After her speech of friendship, it was hard to pinpoint who could know of her, suspect of her, and who could subsequently go after them in the exam. Why? Because many if not all had focused their stare on her. Not that she cares. Notwithstanding, Kegon and Yōrō had a possibility in mind. Since they arrived, there was this one boy from the Land of the Frost that constantly, periodically, turned to look at Fū.

The look of them wasn't that menacing. A squad of three teenagers for the looks of them, boys. Not especially tall or muscular. Plainly looking. From left to right, brown, grey, and white-haired. The most extravagant or particular thing to point about them outside their white clothes was the oversized goggles that one of them wore indoors, handy if a sandstorm was to arrive. If the one that was currently happening was to last. That and the huge scroll he had seen him carry before.

"Hey, chill. They've their eyes on you. You're practically telegraphing our intentions and movements. Just look at the plate or creep on somebody else in what little remains of the evening," Said the last-referred shinobi, the one with the goggles.

"Sorry."

"Just eat. Do nothing else. For now, we have all we need. All you need to do is to follow the drill. Eat up and once we are done we go to bed and rest.." Said the last figure to open his mouth. "We need to be at our best tomorrow, sharp. The sooner we leave, the fewer chances any of you have of doing something stupid."

That was a good recommendation that did not need uttering out loud to be in the minds of the participants, one that all followed shortly after the Shimogakure's shinobi left. As they walked through the corridors to their beds, the members present of the Konoha 11 wished each other great luck for the impending day. They had had a pleasant evening, all things considered. They raised awareness of the fact that despite having succeeded in the previous exam; they were to not slack off in this one. That it was not a given that they will get through again.

Some of them thought back to when they realized that their generation had a simple nickname after it was mentioned out loud during that conversation. Just about the time one of them was leaving, waiting for him to do so on the doorstep to their village.

* * *

Flashback…

Naruto went with the flow. Although Iruka had asked him before if he had something in mind to say, recommended that he should, he planned nothing at all. He went with the chaotic course of things. When Naruto reached them, he smiled and put his hands behind his head, in his classic manner. Easing up the tension, if there even was one.

"This is it, huh?" Wondered Choji as he looked all around.

"Yeah, guess so." Stated Naruto, eager to see what they all will become. Thinking about how different they will all be when they see each other again. Laughing and roughing the back of his hair with one hand while he put the other one in his waist.

"By the time we meet again, we won't recognize you." Claimed Ino, curious. How much orange will Naruto still wear after his training trip?

"Are you kidding? Between his loudmouth and those whiskers, it's impossible to miss him." Said Shikamaru coherently. They were distinctive features.

"Few blondes as matter of fact in this village." Mutter a silent Ino besides Naruto, who smiled in a bidirectional approval of their uniqueness.

"Let's hope he loses the clothes, and he goes for something that ain’t that calling and distinctive." Neji, of all people, then proceeds to, one by one, progress through the colors each was wearing. "Going from white to green, to black, or dark fades of variant colors, to your eyesore bright orange, is quite the experience."

“Hey, orange is the best color there is!” Defended Naruto.

"It so isn't," Claimed Kiba with provocative intentions. Being him, Naruto didn't last a second before being in his face and daring him to state that once again.

"You want a piece of me!" Naruto shouted back. Facing one another.

Kiba smirked and didn’t back down. "Be warned Naruto, when you come back, I will already be a Jōnin," Kiba continued his provocative stream. Naruto steps back and laughs a bit, not taking the mutt's claims seriously. Kiba's eyes twitched as Naruto's mouth formed a smirk.

"What a manly thing to say." Utter Lee in the background.

"You wish dog breath, you will be a genin till death." Said Naruto, thumb down. Now it was Kiba who wanted to fight.

Before any of them made a single step, Choji stepped in the middle and tried to establish some peace.

"Come on boys, a peaceful and temporary farewell, please? You will not see one another in years. Make amends." Utter Choji.

"Three years, huh? You better train hard Naruto or you won't catch up." Added Tenten.

"I think some have to catch up to you." Said Sakura, silent till that moment. Her voice and presence open through the crowd. Naruto felt capable of only staring at her.

"Sakura-Chan." Said Naruto, in an unequivocally caring manner. That seemed like a compliment, something that rarely happens when coming from Sakura.

She smiled at him, Naruto had not stopped since mention.

After a little banter…

"Do you guys know we have a name? All of us, as a generation." Pointed out Kiba, just in case some of them remained clueless of the fact.

"Seriously?" Said a couple of voices in unison, unaware of it.

"Yeah, after the success we had all in the exams, with Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke going all the way to the final rounds, they named us all the Konoha Eleven." Stated Tenten.

“We passed all the first two rounds despite being crazy young!” Recalled Ino. They didn’t know if it was an achievement with no precedents, but it didn’t diminish what they accomplished.

Sakura and Naruto looked at one another, realizing that when proclaimed there was no sadness in their eyes, no true hurt or feeling of sorrow, rather Kiba’s eyebrows showcased brief anger. Yearning wasn’t introduced into the pool of emotions. It shouldn’t be an 11, but 12.

It didn’t matter if they didn’t share their views. They knew what they had to do.

“I guess we ought to have a motto as a group then.” Said out of the blue Shikamaru. No great excitement in his voice.

“Shikamaru, leading already, who would have taught.” Claimed Ino to the laugh of everyone.

“Troublesome” No need to put who mentioned that.

“How about growing stronger and protecting one another?” Pronounced Sakura. It seemed simple yet powerful.

“Yeah, it doesn’t have to be anything more than that.” Said Shikamaru, nodding all in agreement while chuckling and laughing at each other's antics.

With that, the collection of motley personalities and stories established a common ground of affinity and respect outside of the one they were socialized in, the mere fact of being shinobis of the same village. To grow and fight for one another. Which while common for all ninja, was special to them because of how many times they have dealt with animosity with one another in their short lifespans (them a bit clueless of the struggles that came with the bloodshed of war that previous generations faced and the bonds that came with it, among those that survived). The great majority of them knew each other since they were born or since they were four, mostly. So yes, their bond was one that knew of a special category outside the comradery of all Leaf Shinobi.

* * *

‘Naruto,’ Thought Sakura, ‘what wouldn’t you do to be here?’ The desire that he had to win the first exams was obvious, who knows what could have happened if they continued, chances were that he would likely be in the final. One step towards his dream.

This instance was one where she could prove something to herself, that she had already taken a step.

“Ready?” Asked Ino.

“I think we all are. By the time this ends, we will all make it,” Claimed Lee with confidence. “Let’s give it our best!”

The long-haired Hyūga meanwhile was recalling who they were to take their chances tomorrow, who they ought to fear or elude if they wanted to aim low so they could keep their strengths for the finals. They had long decided to not fight against one another, meaning the other members of the Konoha Eleven, the remaining five times teams of the Leaf could be another history.

Unbeknownst to him, he wasn’t the only one doing so. Kiba, funny enough, caught something that the Byakugan couldn’t, a smell, a trace that he didn’t discern during the first exam. Inuzuka’s sense of smell was unique, not only could it track smells but remember them with precision, something didn’t add up with one participant.

* * *

**Day 1…**

On top of the walls that rose from the desert, shielding the fighting field, were the participating teams. All at great distances of one another. The second exam was about to start. The aim remained what it was a year and a half ago. Being capable of retrieving two scrolls in three days and carrying them to the central tower where they were monitoring the exam.

With only one in their possession, teams ought to fight for another one that didn't resemble their own.

Simple enough. Earth and heaven scrolls. One of each. Reach the tower and you are through.

They were all eager for the signal, ready to jump into the vastness of the Demon Desert, the equivalent to Konohagakure's Forest of Death, both in size and in risk, but all manifested in unique ways and with a climate factor that was not present in the mentioned Forest, where water and food were easily found, should you know how to catch it and not be caught by it. This was another kind of challenge.

"What the hell are you doing in that position? Do you think it's the time?" Asked one of the Shimogakure shinobi as his partner sat down. He didn't respond. "Hello! Someone there?"

"Let him be."

As the mentioned figure stood, he uttered with certainty.

"I've got her."

The signal was heard all around. The time had come.

"You know what we must do," Claim one voice commandingly. "Let's go."

All the members of Konoha Eleven, the nine that were taking the test, went towards the title they pursued not that long ago. All grown up and with newfound abilities.

* * *

Afternoon arrived sooner than expected for most teams, even for the upper chunin level of Takigakure, who right now were the focus of one vital conversation.

They were found out. The Sand wasn't characterized by their intel gathering capacities, yet it wasn't that hard of a task for once. Those two who accompanied Fū were Jonin.

Aware of who they were and with full intentions of getting to the bottom of it, Gaara thanked those under his command for their briefing and told them he would take care of it himself.

What aim could another village have, sending their only jinchūriki to his home? Did they even know the turmoil they had sent such an important figure to?

'Fū.' Gaara thought as he departed to the field. ‘Why are you here?’

They stopped him once again, walking through the corridors.

"Gaara-Sama!" Shouted a running shinobi that approached Gaara in the hallway.

"Yes?" Gaara incites for him to speak up what he so adamantly needed to.

"The shinobis from the..." Ishimitsu, the shinobi, was interrupted by an already informed Gaara.

"I was already briefed that the members of the Cascade are Jonin, Ishimitsu," As Gaara said that, Ishimitsu's face showcased confusion.

"The Waterfall? No, Kazekage-Sama, the members of Shimogakure are..."

* * *

The three shinobis from Shimogakure moved within the desert under the ruling path that set their leading figure. Tirelessly and at a fast pace, in pursuit.

Were you to even care for their names, just know they were Higashi Sora, Watanabe Katsu, and Miyagawa Tadashi.

"We are not alone." Said Higashi, a rather petite teenager with white hair and green eyes as he stared at a trio of shinobi that were doing their best to catch up with them. "They seem focused on us. Should we engage them?"

"No, I sense them. There's a team waiting for an ambush in that rock structure up ahead. We will simply elude them and drive them to it. The team from Takigakure ought to be in that direction," Katsu said, pointing away. "We are only to engage with someone so we don't lead any of them to Fū's team."

"Are you certain that she's in danger?" Sora asked.

"No, but we will not take chances. Be ready for every contingency!"

"How do we elude the ambush?"

"Easy. Up with the speed," While on the move, Katsu made three perfect copies of each of the members. Copies who went in the trap's direction. "They do not need to even venture into that ground to fall into the trap. They have set up a field 20 yards before it, so by the time you enter it you have already fallen. It may be genjutsu. Let's lose them, we will encircle this area."

The other two figures nodded.

Little by little, they rested that distance to where they were poised 250 yards away from Fū's team and there they remained, without suspiciously going too close and being noticed. Many things were happening, yet none matter to them outside this.

* * *

**Day 3…**

Sakura was panting, tired to no avail, trying with surgical precision to use all the chakra she had left to heal her partners. She had to elude Ino's and Choji's attacks as a puppeteer controlled them. After two days, and a full morning of fighting, three major clashes, she was exhausted, drained.

When both Ino and Choji rose, they deservingly thanked her. Attributing her with the merits of them still being in the race. One bad fall or step at this juncture and all they had worked for could mean nothing. They were in a no mistake allowed time zone.

They had already handled the hardest part of the exam. Yesterday, after two battles that didn't lead to anything, amidst the nightfall Ino obtained a scroll.

She tracked a team of Iwagakure. With ease, she entered inside one of the member's minds. It was child's play.

She was no Suna shinobi, what she could puppeteer were beings of flesh, with conscious minds. A skill she conceived as being more complex, if she said so herself. Within this shinobi's body, she asked his team if they could lend "him" the scroll, after noticing that she didn't aim so greatly and this boy didn't have it. Once they gave it, with the great fortune that it wasn't similar to their own Earth, she ran away with the body of their partner and their scroll, into the night.

The others naturally went in pursuit, into a trap where both Choji and Sakura waited. They didn't have any problems with them. Once she left his body, she beat the one she was in herself. Ino had a cunning plan and the confidence to pull it off. And what do you know? She could.

They just had to reach the tower...

Team 8 was too in the same point of the exam. None went through this without a scratch, and none got them similarly. They faced total defeat once after being beaten, the possibility of not getting through with their scroll being taken. Showcasing valor and character, they did not give up and with their tracking ability caught up with the ones who had their future promotions in their pockets and faced them once again. Making that previous defeat a one-off instance. The enemy was capable and actually weird, but they managed to improvise and ultimately they raised victors.

Team 9 was a different story. Two brawls, 2 scrolls, and they still had to get one. Both they had were Heaven, so unless they traded it with someone that was to be that kind, they still had another battle to fight to pass.

Sakura looked at a structure up ahead. They were in no shape and form to fight anyone, and it could house them for the next hours till they could get up to speed. While it was already day 3, they could without a doubt take a break. It was only noon. Signaling her comrades, she led them to the shelter.

She led them, an occurrence that should be pointed out. For once she was in command, this once her comrades' lives were in her hands and she delivered. She stepped onto the plate and not only defeated the enemy by herself, forcing them to retreat, but she also did it with a clear number's disadvantaged, five against one, counting Ino and Choji...

Against those odds she did that without losing track of the objective, not losing either their scroll or their provisions, chiefly their water.

She smiled to herself. She had many reasons to.

Matter aside, they all could hear an attack far away. It was a distant rumble. With no capacity of fighting at the moment, she pressed for her team to take shelter as quickly as they could.

* * *

Just a few minutes ago…

"So far so good." Mentioned Sora with a clear lack of enthusiasm. He was not eager for action, quite the contrary actually. The thing was, like Tadashi mentioned, that it would be weird to go through all this trouble for nothing. Just thinking of the first exam was soporific.

They've had some, not much. Actually, to be more accurate, a single 5-minute fight. He couldn't say that they didn't break a sweat because under this heat cause a single move in it already warranted that. They already thought about it, there was no chance that they went through this thing untouched. A sole fight proved welcoming.

Tadashi remained in the tail of Katsu like Sora. Katsu's abilities had proven useful. It was thanks to him they had till now such a peaceful stay in the desert; it was thanks to him they were currently on the trail of their objective.

As they ran among the dunes, Tadashi saw a man standing still. He thought it was a mirage because while he only caught a glimpse of him for a time span of less than a minute; he didn't see him move once, nor blink, nor hide from this heat, nothing.

He quickly left his mind. If anything, that man was just in shock. Good luck getting out, Tadashi thought.

As they continued advancing the most surprising thing happened. He saw him again, in the same position, in the same place, or somewhere with a similar shape. It couldn't be.

"Guys wait!" Said Tadashi with the loudest tone he could manage so they weren't caught. Sora and Katsu did, the last one with reticence, not wanting to lose the trail of their objectives, he formed three clones, two of them just looked out, so they did not have a blind spot, while the other one sat down. Kneeling with Tadashi, both look at him with questioning faces. He motioned them to slowly crouched down and follow him so they could see the figure at the bottom of the dunes. "I saw that guy in the same position just a few miles back. Standing there undaunted."

"Why didn't you say it sooner?" Asked Sora perplexed. To which Tadashi replied with an apology. He made a mistake and didn't see him as a threat.

"Genjutsu?" Questioned Katsu.

"No, don't think so. I could have eluded it with ease," confidently pronounced Sora.

The other two looked at the man once again. He didn't seem to move. Just because, they decided to not trust Sora overconfidence and released some energy.

"Kai" Releasing it, the trio felt nothing. Whether it was the important matter at hand was that when they looked back at the man, he was no longer there.

'The hell?' Thought Tadashi.

Just a whisper. A light trace of sound blew past them, not fast enough for one of them to not notice, hoping himself to react in time.

'Not this time,' He thought in the back of his head as his lower body turned with enough speed to carry the upper one with strength as he launched his punch towards the center they all three encircled.

His knuckles reach in time, punching the hell out of the figure as he sends him away from the force that Katsu put on it.

'Fast!' Thought Sora. Thanking in the back of his mind that Katsu was aware enough.

Awareness and ability allowed for them to not have been caught with their backs turned, ill-luck led to such flying man to clash against Tadashi, leading him out of the reach of his companions.

Out of the sand jumped 10 shinobis. Sora, Katsu, and Tadashi immediately caught sight of who they were fighting against, Sunagakure's shinobi.

Sora with a whip-like gadget that he just summoned pulled Tadashi back towards them. Katsu had no choice but to do one jutsu, recalling the signs as he did them at lighting speed, 'Saru Ushi Inu Ne'.

"Wind Style: Whirlwind Shield." As Katsu ended those words, enveloping the three comrades was a small tornado. Covering them completely.

All the kunais that were incoming were repelled and rode the currents of winds that were suddenly generated by Katsu's chakra, spreading at great speeds around the field. Being in the environment they were, as Katsu did that, so did he repel the sand that everlastingly surrounded them.

As the sand that surrounded them disappeared, they sunk a little as the sand naturally rearranged.

Looking down to the ephemeral, deeper standing ground they were laying on, Sora could see something different among the homogenous sand. A worm, he thought at first. Just after blinking, he realized they were fingers, shortly after full hands. In his mind, he shouted that they somehow were underneath the ground.

They went to grab them. Only being Sora the one to jump in time as Katsu's technique faded.

"Underneath, fuck!"

"Get the fuck off me!"

To the best of his capabilities, Sora did his own signs.

"Water Release: Water Cannon Technique." Sora spits substantial water out of his mouth that lands in between his companions, Katsu frees himself as his captor loses the hold on him, perfectly aware of what these two were up to.

The soil was wet enough to be a good enough conductor.

"Lightning Style: Lightning Release." Bolts emanated around Tadashi, freeing however was in the turmoil, jumping out the now mud.

The three could elude this first combined attack. What they didn't dare to forget was on whose turf they were fighting on.

"Why the hell are they..." This wasn't the time for talking. Sora had to be reminded of that by an impending kunai that he had to evade.

Katsu was looking around, searching for the puppeteer, if there was one. His three clones were already defeated. Eleven enemy shinobi remained against three. He had already gathered all the energy he needed. As he opens his eyes again, he searches for any other signs or traces of chakra. Searches for a thread. There were none. It might be their lucky day, for he didn't know how to handle a puppeteer.

Katsu made two clones that left the formation at raging speed, surprising their enemy. They were so fast that by the time they surpassed the first line of them; they did not notice. The second one, frightened, inadvertently braced themselves. To their amusement they passed them by, going strictly for a head-to-head taijutsu combat with the man they originally saw, the one that ought to have orchestrated this. The one who felt like he was in control.

No more.

The mysterious man of the dune was comfortable in facing them until they were at arm's length, rather sooner than he imagined. One clone went straight ahead for him and with a simple move eluded his attack and with ease destroyed his upper body, made of sand.

The sand clone dispersed, Katsu forced the original to come out with the help of some paper bombs that he let fall in his surrounding area. He had no choice but to come out, and when he did, someone was waiting for him.

The target cleared his eyes. The second clone wasn't in sight.

A kunai, a simple kunai was thrown from above as the man rose from the sand, the Suna shinobi couldn't elude it, he tried to duck, to get out of the direct path. The best he could do was for it to land on his clavicle.

Rather than solely piercing through the flesh and bone lightly, the kunai sunk so deep that it came out under his side, under the armpit. He was lucky that the angle didn't have the precision to hit his organs, not any vital ones. The hole, though, could be a deathly wound, Katsu just disabled his enemy's left side.

Before any of the remaining ten shinobis could aid, who by now the Frost team could say with certainty was their leader, the first clone moved in front of their path.

Not only was he on their path but so was the fear of Sora and Tadashi water and lighting affinities, as they tried a similar combo but with different techniques, making them elude rather than advance.

'Got you.' Though Katsu as two other clones he just made jumped into the middle of both hollows where the shinobi were dispersed. As they tried to move up, Katsu started flinging the sand to the sides, creating an avalanche that made them slip towards the center of that hollow where the clones were. Instead of inviting the chance of going ahead for Katsu, seeing him briefly in action, they distanced themselves to search for options. They forced the shinobis to jump to get out of there.

They were in danger, in mid-air, the perfect target. Given the precarious situation, one of the shinobi resorted to what he knew, to his style.

"Fire Style: Fire Breath Jutsu."

As the fire approached and with them all still in the process of falling, Katsu smirked.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" After Katsu did that, the flames turned with increased heat, fed with the oxygen in that air.

Wind was by nature weak against fire, regardless, the difference in chakra between Katsu's technique and that of his opponent was such that he did not put out the fire, but feed it so it could kill his breather as its path changed by the force of his wind style.

He rearranged its route.

The user who utilized that jutsu was burned in his own flames, together with a partner to whom he didn't do any favors. Another one compared to this fatal materialization just burned his leg. The degrees and severity of the burns decreased in comparison for the rest.

Those who were injured, in succinct disarray, more focused on the fire, and within Sora and Tanabi's range were killed, distracted.

The count and the numbers printed in the signboard for the fight were redesigned to be truthful to the current fight. Now there were seven of them remaining against three, with their leader dying from blood loss. The guy with the burning leg won't be much of a partaker either.

The Shimogakure's shinobi went into close formation again, only to strike seconds after, relentlessly. Not giving the enemy time to breathe and for the momentum to change.

Katsu threw another kunai with the strength he previously had, only this time that kunai wasn't traveling alone.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique." Only one got hit and it proved this time to be deadly. Six remaining.

"They're no genin!" Mentioned out loud one of the remaining members as they looked at them like they were in a standoff.

They had already beaten two clones, the ones in between them and their leader, not before being injured in the process. They formed around him, to protect him. They were in no shape to fight; they were shocked against their previously overconfident sentiment. No morale.

Shimogakure's team had barely a scratch on them.

It was time to finish them…

They were all so focused on each other that none of them noticed the unmistakable and predominant thing to fear, approaching at the distance with an unstoppable pace. Only one of them didn't miss it.

"Oh, shit!" Shouted Tadashi, pointing behind the backs of their enemies to the newly arriving. "Sandstorm!" Just when things were going their way.

As they all looked ahead, they could see the sand rise to the clouds above and beyond. A scary-ass wave. A phenom they ought to elude. Tadashi ordered them to retreat. They knew that when the storm arrives, day will turn to night and that of the two clashing sides, they were the ones less prepared to fight in it.

Katsu formed five clones who stood in between both sides, all performing the same hand signs while the original already turned to run as they escaped away from it. He was fearful that his wind style wouldn't be enough to prevail against such a sudden occurrence. To protect his partners.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."

They run in the opposite direction of the sandstorm. Of those five clones that performed that technique to hinder their enemy’s movement, giving them time, three jumped out of the picture, each independently running in different directions in order to cover more ground, hoping to find shelter, the other two remained so they would not make the foolish mistake of turning the back against their enemy. Yet they didn't play well with their cards.

"That one ain't natural. It came out of the blue," Thought Katsu out loud.

"May as well be. Doesn't matter, let's move." Responded Tadashi. The nature of it didn't matter that much.

When Sora looks back to see if they were pursuing them, to his surprise they were. With so many injured, he expected them to retreat long before. They were undoubtedly persistent, he would not deny that.

Looking to his partners, who too were aware, he just was about to nod to motion them to move, but…

"Argh!" Sora shouted in pain, as it arose when two shurikens landed on his back and one on his leg. He knew he had to keep moving and for that he needed cover.

Tadashi wasn't aimed at. Katsu got the memory of one of his clones as it dispersed and managed to have the reaction time to defend himself with his kunai of the round coming his way. Shame that he didn't get those memories with enough time to warn Sora.

Katsu turned to protect their rear, filling the vacancy left for the other two he left back then, who were defeated. Only two shinobi were in their pursuit. Both shinobis went straight for him, or so Katsu thought. To his surprise, having fought against them earlier, one of them surpassed him, copying their strategy. He feinted that he was going to clash against Katsu, but he disappeared from the immediate picture under the sand, Katsu not having time to react as his enemy's partner came for him.

Out of the two bulges of sand that they were clashing in between came out another two clones in ambush. That was Katsu's plan. They had little trouble killing one of his pursuers, but he underestimated the other.

Critical mistake.

"Look out!" Shouted one clone. They turned around too late.

Tadashi was aiding Sora, giving him a shoulder where to rest while they continued moving. As he turned with Sora to look, the enemy shinobi had already come out of the sand within five feet of them, with his sword drawn. They could see his bloodlust stare as the grains of sand trickled down his head. With one arm occupied as the support for Sora's body, Tadashi was not fast enough to draw a weapon against the impending sword.

Fully expecting to get hit, he closed his eyes and tried to brace Sora. Tried because it was Sora that made the move prematurely and got in between the sword and Tadashi, getting an ugly cut on his back.

Katsu fluently moved in the enemy's approach. Eluding a fire technique, he knocks on his doorstep. He was faster than his enemy. He eluded an incoming blow with his right, ducking the incoming left, predictable. He got in and out of his reach and after punching him in the face he took advantage of his shock, to unbalance his enemy by kicking his support foot and driving him to the sand with a kunai in his chest. Burying him in all the sense of the word. As he took his weapon out of him, he realized he couldn't see but the feet of the corpse. A trail of his hair as the dessert devoured him.

Aware that no one was following, he went to his partners’ aid.

"Sora!" Shouted Katsu, Tadashi was giving him first aid on the ground, Sora was breathing and awake. "How is he?"

“We need aid. The vest and the mesh took most of the impact of the sword. I don't know about that wound, it needs to be closed, he ain't bleeding much. As long as we get him to patch up, he will be alright,” Tadashi briefed. “He won't be able to fight in his condition, that's for sure.”

"Come on then, look ahead. There's a shelter." Mentioned Katsu as he stood from his knees and tapped Tadashi's shoulder three times to hurry him. One clone that went to scout found a place where they could be shielded from this thing.

"Give me a second."

"We don't have one." Responded Katsu looking at the sandstorm.

There was no arguing. The phenom that was displaying in the distance before was minutes away from reaching them, and they could not get caught up in one with Sora in his condition. Tadashi, being the strongest and bigger of them all, lifted Sora to his shoulders. A fireman's carry. That's what the technique is called. Given that all Sora’s injuries were on his back, it seemed like the better option.

They run as fast as they could, surrounded by a formation of clones that had to be summoned for protection after their previous careless fuck up. It took them up to five minutes to get there.

The shelter was big enough for them, nowhere in their minds matter that it could be occupied. They had other problems.

Katsu reached the entrance and leaned against the side of it. He waited for his partners to enter, encouraging them to do so quickly, rotating his arms to signal them.

"Come on! Come on."

Fortunately, they made it.

Tadashi and Katsu entered as they looked at the storm go by, enveloping everything in its path. Panting and smiling to themselves. Sora was looking instead at the shelter and thought wisely to mention what he noticed in no time.

"Ehem. Guys, turn around."

"Who are you?" Said Choji with a menacing tone.

'Shit,' Simply thought Tadashi. Meanwhile, Katsu ought to be thankful that he was wearing goggles, for his expressions were something to marvel at.

* * *

**Meanwhile, in an unknown part of Otogakure…**

Sasuke remained in his bed, with an arm bandaged from a mistake he committed in his training yesterday. He was looking back at a humorous occasion, quote in his life. Not by nature of where it was framed, but how.

He had to look far back in his memories, when his father taught him a fire technique for the first time. Tired to no avail, he remained still on the ground, with no force to continue. Unlike the many occasions where his father would reprimand him with a disapproving tone, this one was comically actually, mockingly.

"Laying down is not something you should be working on Sasuke, it's not like you're gonna lose a step. Laying down is the only skill you get better at every year that you're alive." His father said. He could recall him pausing before adding, "Eventually, you master it."

There was a microscopic chuckle in the face of one of the two remaining Uchiha. Were there to be anyone with him in his room, and he or she wouldn't notice. The next time his father told him that joke, with no memory of ever telling him before, he added after that "master it" a speech of war and death and how he would die if he didn't do what he told him to, in the times he mentioned doing them at.

He was wired that way. Sasuke didn't slack off, so something he installed.

The shadow that his brother cast over him at the start was also very different from the one that now prevailed. He had nothing but love and admiration, there was no jealousy at the prowess of Itachi as he went through the ranks at a quicker pace than anyone before. He was in awe.

It wasn't until his father made him live up to that that his view changed. Where once remained hopefulness for emulation, after reign impotency and frustration.

His father's hunger for excellence hurt him. His obsession with valuing him after the fact, after he accomplishes this, or he manages that, hurt him. Itachi excelled their father's expectations, but Sasuke didn't, he was not in the same place that Itachi was, fructifying in his father always saying Itachi could, so should you, reprimanding him when he didn't. Everlastingly seeming like he loved Itachi more than he ever did him. Success warranting a type of love in his household.

Nor her brother nor his mother lived under that predicament, that is why he cared for them the most. The people he held most dear.

There was resentment with Itachi because he didn't help him grow as a shinobi for his schedule, nor his intentions. He didn't understand that. The many times he called for a bit of training, only for a muted response to be utter with two fingers against his forehead. That was his only complaint, the only demand, and protest that he had about him, and it emerged in the previous year before that occurrence. He was actually a laudable big brother.

That reality seems from another dimension right now.

When he lost them all… To whom he lost them too. There was no introspective process, no usual memory searching or soul explorations, no search of mental health. There was one memory, a sense of loss, that permeated everything he was or could be. The only moment that gave his biographical narrative sense was to eliminate a timeline, to finish a process. The one where his family ever remained after the fact, after the events of that day, by killing his brother.

His personal identity was forged into selective narratives that could fuel that fire, that hate, that hunger for power to eradicate Itachi from this world. Those were his selective memories, others like friends or many of his family had no place.

He couldn't see his honest growth in Konoha, nor when his reference went from being Itachi, the prodigy of the Uchiha, to a loudmouth that couldn't be conceived in the same world as he was as a Shinobi, in the academy. What growth could he have if that blonde dumbass could surpass him and defeat foes he couldn't?

That wasn't his place. He was better than Naruto, and yet he was catching him before his eyes. Sasuke was faster, taller, stronger, had better control, technique, and yet... He was disoriented. When Naruto of all people was figuratively ahead of him...

In some of those important fights, he once again felt somehow helpless, incapable of changing the course of them. When Gaara happened, he was once again that boy in that corridor, awaiting death, although he chose to stand and fight. So was the case in his first fight against Zabuza. Fights in which he had to protect people, deter the opposition from killing those he called comrades. Or better called, obstacles that deterred him from using all his force with no care for collateral damage.

That didn't happen when he fought for himself. When he could only see the battlefield. That flame was awakened and fed when he faced Orochimaru, and it prevailed now that he was facing him during his training as well every day. He had no care for others, ought to not have to to accomplish what he desired. All were obstacles in a road that he would run through, whether he died on it or lived through it, it matters not if he didn’t kill Itachi.

There was nothing else.

Far away were his hopes of restoring the Uchiha…

When he defeated Naruto, he eradicated the first nonsense in his life. He restored the natural order where Naruto was behind him. No other picture is needed. Where the only person who fed his desire to surpass him was once again only his brother, as Sasuke looked up to the chance of standing above him as Itachi's cries died out with his putrid life.

He questioned for a second if it had to all come to this? Once again that does not occupy much of his thoughts, for they deter him from focusing on his training. Notwithstanding, he questioned if it needed to come to it with Naruto, to take it as far as it was. If Naruto had only left him alone….It was a moment worthy of being in a dramatic tale. A before and after in the lifespans of those that clashed in it. With a climax that leads to unconsciousness, Naruto's. That's what that was. A slumber that was within seconds of being eternal for the blonde if Sasuke was to land a fatal blow, something that nearly happened.

There were many things he despised about Naruto, one he was glad to shut up was his pretension of understanding his pain, his motives. That alone begged him to shut him forever, but he decided against it, against his brother's wishes.

He defeated Naruto thanks to Orochimaru's power in part, installing his desire for more of it and the honest belief that no price was too high, that it was to not be paid, except his life, which he would not give up. Not to someone who he himself could defeat, seen daily his deteriorating steps. The closer to the day where Orochimaru was to take his body, the better, for the more ready he will be and the weaker his opponent.

Long had he stood up, now walking towards the mentioned snake office. As he approaches it, he hears him and Kabuto rumbling.

"We have a mole, find it or I will kill everyone here except Sasuke-kun, making sure that mentioned traitor is no more," Mentioned with his hissing voice Orochimaru.

Sasuke knocked on Orochimaru's open door.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you doing here?"

"Let's continue with the training." Imposingly claimed the Uchiha.

"Kabuto recommended you to rest Sasuke-kun, it's better to follow what he says in this case," Claimed Orochimaru, hoping to take care of his future recipient.

"When it comes down to it, I might have to fight with something more than a bruised bone." There was no doubt in his words. "We are training."

* * *

"All right, all right, stop shouting. Calm down." Mentioned Tadashi, with Sora still on his shoulders. "We are here only for shelter."

Ino and Sakura stood, rose in a defensive stance. They knew perfectly that against these conditions the exams took second place. What they also knew was that they were on the last day and unlike other teams, they had both scrolls. They did not know each intention.

Katsu put things simply with a question.

"Do any of you know Medical ninjutsu?" He questioned as he helped Tadashi put Sora down.

"Yes, what of it?" Asked Sakura as if the answer wasn't obvious, as if there wasn't any clearly injured individual here. She was unmistakably testing.

Tadashi shot her a look.

"Could you heal our teammate?" Asked Tadashi as he pointed to his wounds.

"For your scroll, we will." Quickly said Ino, stepping in. That wouldn't create much affinity.

Sakura's look was of surprise, Katsu rather smirked. So far for the axiological vows of medicine.

"You bitch," Almost muttered Sora from the ground, coughing. They heard it.

Katsu could bet that Ino, rather than being provoked and angered, was subtly smirking. Choji didn’t know what to do, and Sakura tensed. 

Interrupting…

"It's fair," Mentioned Katsu as he searched for it in his pockets, catching it and throwing it to Sakura. Tadashi knew they didn't matter to them. Still, to give them away… "This is for sharing the shelter. Now, could you please forget the foul mouth of my friend and heal him so he doesn't have any lasting effects and at least can get out of this desert? Afterward, I promise you he will be more grateful and well mannered." Said Katsu courteously.

Ino remained doubtful. Not being able to look into this guy's eyes while he spoke did nothing to decrease that mentioned distrust.

"Believe us, we have no intention of facing you. Even less now that we need you. We are only asking for a place to rest from the storm. We can share some provisions. You know we can't go out there, we won't willingly, sorry. Again, we have nothing against you. Sandstorms usually last hours. We will leave the second it ends. We will even wait for you to check that we have stolen nothing from you. Okay?" Suggested Tadashi. Did he need to say more?

The three members of Konoha looked at one another and nodded.

"Okay." Said Choji for that word to prelude those of thankfulness from the shinobis of the Frost.

"Thank you."

After that negotiation, Sakura went ahead to heal Sora under Tadashi's careful stare. There were some nasty cuts in his back. Lying with his head down, Sora budged to this kunoichi's knowledge so he could be healed and not be a liability for the remainder of his mission. Katsu meanwhile left his things on the ground and sat down, in the Lotus pose, to the incredulity of those who weren't looking out for Sora.

Ino looked at his companions, not trying to ask what called for him to do that, but Tadashi motioned with his hand to leave him alone. They didn't understand either.

Katsu wondered what to make of all this. He didn't understand the laws of the desert. The randomness of this occurrence. If it was random and recurrent, or, again, redundantly unpredictable. What he understood was that this may be no accident and that they could induce it. He would test that. His mind momentarily forgot about the rest, about the fact that they were attacked.

Those shinobi weren't after them. What they might have figured out it's that they were going after the same person.

With them being from here, maybe they could somehow operate under these conditions. They, as in them, the Shimogakure's shinobis couldn't, and if forced to act they will perish by their incapability to deal with the conditions. How many more teams were out there? He knew that Gaara was not hunting Fū, so who were they going against? Under whose command? Maybe it was Gaara the target, after all, it was a chance. Suicide in this climate and field, but a chance.

Sakura was on the verge of ending her procedure on Sora. She sighed. Just when everything seems to go their way... The sandstorm, and now this. It was out of luck that they found this place and she thought within that good momentum they will have a pleasant rest, clear, and go after the tower. Ready if things went sour.

Now here they were, with other shinobis from another village who didn't pose any opposition or frustration to the idea of giving them their scroll. She had a hunch, not a bad one, but a hunch regardless. One that told her that something else was going on.

"Do you think they will suspend the exam?" Asked Ino, starting the small talk.

"They've got to," responded Tadashi as he looked at the blond. "These conditions are far away unique to this place to ever be extrapolated or matter in other settings. No chunin related aspects will be showcased here. These conditions are far beyond any ninja's ability."

Choji nodded in agreement, hoping that it was the case. Sakura doubted it. Who was there to say that they won't come back to fight in Suna someday?

"It's time to eat! We were about to. If you would like to accompany us..." Said Choji. Tadashi nodded alone.

Sakura had to help Sora to approach them in order to eat something before he got to rest. To gain some strength after such an effort.

Katsu remained in his world.

Tadashi cringed at the thought of having to talk by himself with this bunch from Konoha.

"So, how have you've fare up until now? Not that it would matter much if they postpone the last day." Asked Choji again to Ino’s disbelief at the theme he had set. They were not to share information with one another.

"Choji!"

"No, it's okay." Said Tadashi, indulging, as he searched within his ropes and showed another two scrolls. All looked at him. "Yeah, we have enough."

"Why go after three?" Asked Choji, suddenly seeming curious and chatty.

"To be honest, we didn't even go after them. A team with two scrolls of the same type went after us rather and they left empty-handed," said Tadashi as he pulled out the original one and played with it, moving it like a drumstick between his fingers. "How many you got?"

"Three," Ino to the surprise of Tadashi, who thought she was driving a hard bargain out of desperation for the second scroll necessary for the exam.

"I was going to say greedy, but it's smart. Could have mistaken you for being merciless." Tadashi had a report on the girl. Actually, on all the brats from the exams of Konoha years ago. She didn't resemble her profile at all. "You seem set on eradicating any chance of not passing." Claimed Tadashi with respect.

Meanwhile, Katsu rose, ignoring the voice of his comrade as he looked outside, giving him his back.

"What's up his ass?" Wonder Ino with unease, feeling a sensation, an energy emanating from the boy.

"Grandstanding aspirations. He is just calling for attention with that thinking pose of his. Forget him," Mentioned Sora as he attempted to eat something.

Katsu could feel the chakra of the storm. It was a technique. That confirmed his thoughts. He couldn't trace where the signature ended, how long till the storm passed. It wasn't within range. The rescue corps were, though. And so was, far away from them, the one who they ultimately all responded to.

'Gaara's on the field!' Thought Katsu. 'They weren't going after Fū, they were organizing a coup.' Not that much of a surprise, to be honest. These changed their plans. Unless they were both together, they would have to decide after which one they would go. He had to wait for the storm to end and for Sora to heal.

Either Sora was in enough shape to continue, or Katsu would leave them alone and go by himself.

How could he grasp that the thought rescue corps weren't the shinobi that previously attack them? Easy, they had a different signature and he could at least recall with precision one of them. He was glad that they didn't pursue them much longer back then, meaning like an hour ago.

This exam was about to be postponed, no harm in sharing it with Konoha once they needed to know, meaning almost an hour after the moment he realized it, after they had already eaten and the exploration group was on their doorstep.

"The exam will be postponed," mentioned Katsu out loud. Everyone seems to be focused on him now, having just spoken his tenth word, maybe since arriving. "There's a Sunagakure squad heading our way with teams that were lagging."

"How do you know that?" Asked Sakura. She couldn’t see anything outside. Did he have a Byakugan under those familiar shaped goggles? Katsu just pointed through the door. Both Ino and Choji stood up to catch a glance.

They didn't need to wait even 2 minutes for that mentioned team to make their appearance. With robes up to their eyebrows, they couldn’t know who they were.

As soon as one of them disrobe a bit so the least they could do was see her face, they reacted.

"Temari!" Called out Ino, relieved.

"Oh. Hello guys, glad to see you made it," Temari declared as she turned to order around those who were still behind her. "Come on, everyone inside! You will remain here until the storm is over."

"They are all already in the shelter, Temari-san." Mentioned one of the shinobis under her command. She barely nodded.

"All right, listen up!" Said Temari out loud so she could have the attention of everybody. "We will postpone the exam to tomorrow at least. While all that is secondary, my partner here, Tamahide, will be left here in charge of you while we search for the remaining participants. No funny business. He will take notes on the number of scrolls each team has, if anyone tries anything I will expel them, personally. Am I clear?" When she said that there was little room for doubt, many nodded. "Good, we will come back for you, till then remain here. It's cozy, with space for all of you," she proclaimed as she left.

"Temari wait..." Ino said as she tried to reach for her.

"Not right now, Ino, whatever it is it will have to wait." Clarified Temari as she left.

8 more people now lodged with them. Katsu approached Tadashi and Sora so he could whisper something to them. Giving both of them a pat on their shoulders and mentioning them to approach him.

"I will continue this mission alone. All right?" As Katsu said that, Tadashi grabbed his arm, forcefully.

"No, it's not alright, no funny business remember?" Tadashi clarified. "You represent us all. If you leave now, it would be a blatant transgression."

"I will leave a clone. I'm not taking chances, Tadashi. I'm going to search for Gaara and Fū, and I'm not capable of tracing them from here," he briefed.

"And how do you plan to do that with no one noticing, getting suspicious..." Sora's tone changed during those last words as he fell on something. "You have already done it, haven't you?" Sora facepalmed.

"What?" Tadashi asked, not having heard that last part.

"He is a clone, Tadashi. Katsu has already left." Explained Sora while Katsu apologetically smiled.

It took all the restraint in the world for Tadashi to not smack Katsu's clone, making it disappear.

* * *

The storm had passed 10 minutes in since that last talk.

Without the storm clouding his vision, lashing out on him, Katsu could move at ease. He was running out of time. He could sense something, a vast amount of chakra.

It had to be them. Both Fū and Gaara. He runs as fast as he can.

In the distance, past the dunes, he saw a green circle. He had no ability to… The time for sensing had run out. It didn't matter; he knew where he had to go.

**"Run brat, run."**

He didn't bother to ask why, if he of all people advised that, it meant he ought to arrive soon, that there was trouble.

He sped up even more. Running in the sand was fucking difficult, whether it was in the dunes or in these rock elevations. With a big jump, he rose to a small elevation. From there, he could see everything distinctly.

His mind was so caught up in the effort of arriving that he hadn't thought of what scenario he will face once he reaches their position, yet the picture before him had him bemused.

It was anticlimactic, rather. All this running...

Gaara and Fū were free, without harm from the appearance of them and in control of the situation. On the floor remained a bold guy that Neji was guarding. Lee, Tenten, and Fū's companions were also there.

He could even see three jōnin figures approach. The worst part seems to be long gone. And he had missed it. He was not conflicted with the fact that he was not needed, one less fight for him and two perfectly healthy jinchūrikis to celebrate for it. He was thankful, disappointed that he could have arrived too late to save or protect the person in question, mainly Fū, like they were ordered.

'Thank god,' Katsu though. Out of the corner of his eye he caught…

* * *

Yasunaga is shocked and frustrated. He and his two companions were fearful of the consequences of their failure. Earlier today, their squad had lost a battle against some Shimogakure genins. A team of twelve shinobi was defeated by three fucking children! They thought.

Not being able in consequence to support the other squad that was to divert the attention while Hōichi completed his Dharma Power Sealing Technique: Sen no Rikyū, one technique capable enough of extracting two tailed beasts at once, forcefully.

They had just arrived, cursing their luck. Had they done it sooner and they could have been capable of aiding and protecting Hōichi long enough so he could have killed that monster. Stopping the Konoha shinobi.

They had to hide after this failure. Chances were that they were killed by their superiors.

Yasunaga heard two grumbles, a thunk, the sound of something falling in the sand twice. Turning, he saw the bodies of his two remaining comrades on the floor, unconscious. Before he could utter plead or express fear, before he could even rise his head and see the two perpetrators, sharpness caresses his neck.

"Don't you even try to move a muscle," Katsu declared with a menacing tone that promised death were he to disobey. "We are gonna meet your Kage so he can express his gratitude for your protection."

Yasunaga feared the worst.

* * *

"You have my thanks, Neji. Imagine, being saved by you." Thanked Gaara.

"Is everyone all right?" Questioned Lee.

"Yeah, we are okay now." If it wasn't for who said those words, Fū, Gaara could already be dead. Without her Cocoon stopping the extraction, slowing it down at least, maybe Gaara could be already dead.

The question that remained was of safety, were any more attacks to occur, they had the numbers to stop them.

"Was he alone?" Wondered Kurenai, who previously laughed at the pride of Guy for his team's success. It was touching, actually.

"No, he wasn't," All turned to track that approaching voice. They caught sight of one Suna shinobi, looked handcuffed by a Shimogakure ninja. With two clones of mentioned ninja behind him carrying another two of Gaara's compatriots. "They were with him and even attacked us earlier."

Yasunaga crumbled under the undaunted stare of his Kage, who had yet to utter a word. Not maintaining his glance, he looked at the side at a still breathing Hōichi. "Questioning will have to wait for later, right now what we ought to do is get back to the tower." Gaara didn't need to question the Frost shinobi about how he knew if those were disloyal soldiers. The look of disappointment at his still breathing ability by one of them was proof enough. "Thank you, who are you again..." Gaara was about to finish that question, raising his head to look at the shinobi noticing him for the first time. He wasn't the only one.

Kurenai for example knew just by looking at the captor that he was using a transformation technique. Unlike her, Gaara knew who he really was. Which didn't bother Katsu one bit. What he was hoping for was for Neji to not notice him, to not dare use his Byakugan.

'What are you doing here?' Thought Gaara. This could be the biggest surprise he had had all day, and that was something.

"Gaara-Sama?" Questioned Matatsu, seeing as Gaara had gone somewhere. Bringing him out of his stupor.

"Sorry. Like I was saying, let's get back everyone." He ordered some of his men to take the prisoners to interrogation.

During the entire way back, Gaara had the urge to ask what he was doing here. It was a shock that Fū hadn't done it already. She seemed to be occupied thanking Neji and offering him for him to be her friend.

Once they arrived and after a couple of orders, Gaara ordered his guards to take a break, now of all times, after an assassination attempt. He asked them one last thing, to bring Watanabe Katsu.

He took five minutes to arrive.

Once the door was closed, he just couldn't help but ask out loud.

Finally, after dealing with the main traitor, Fugi, the mind behind it all, who ashamed committed seppuku after hearing from Gaara himself of his failure and his defeat. After hearing of the plan for Suna that Gaara had and upon whom he made judgment with no knowledge of where it was to lead, not bothering to get to know him in order to know if he could carry it out. Fuji opposed him with the prejudice of what he was and what remains of it…

Finally, after all that, he could ask.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?"

* * *

Flashback…

"Suna? Why are we going to Suna?" Naruto asked. Out of all places…

Jiraiya looked at the boy and laughed. The least he expected him to be was excited. After all, Suna was the Land of the Wind and they honored it by being the best wind style users in the world. The idea of meeting Gaara too should incite excitement, yet Naruto didn't showcase what he thought.

"The chunin exams are about to take place," mentioned Jiraiya for Naruto's now effervescent elation. 'So now you are excited, huh?' Jiraiya honestly felt bad for what he was about to do. "But you won't be taking part in them."

Naruto tripped and fell to the floor. 'Now that was a face of disbelief' thought Jiraiya, stifling a laugh. Naruto went from zero to a hundred real quick and back to zero at the same speed. From smiling and jumping to crying and pouting.

"What do you mean I won't be competing?" Why say anything then, that was mean, thought Naruto.

"No, you will…. It's a bit more complex than that," Jiraiya was wondering how to best explain it to him. "All right, give me a second. You will partake on them, on the second exam rather, only that you won't do it with Konoha." Was that a good enough start? Jiraiya didn't think so once he saw Naruto's face.

"Then with whom?" Asked Naruto, confused.

"With Shimogakure," Jiraiya was about to restart, he hadn't made things clear until now, time to start. "Okay, let me explain. You won't be taking part in the exams to go up the ranks, to be upgraded to chunin..." Naruto was about to protest when Jiraiya raised his hand for him to not do so. "... Let me end. As I said, you are not going there for any accolades. You will replace a genin from a team from Shimogakure and partake on a combined mission. Your focus will be to not be caught and, once you enter the Demon Desert, protect Fū, the jinchūrikis of the Cascade. The seven tails."

Naruto now was interested beyond the withered disappointment that he had. Fū was in his age range and for what he read, far beyond more advanced in handling her powers than him and Gaara.

This mission sounded unique. He will give Jiraiya that.

"The thing is, that once I was informed that she was taking the exam I offered the one in command, someone named Shibuki or something like that…" Jiraiya was interrupted.

"Shibuki is the leader of a village?" Questioned Naruto. Jiraiya looked at the boy.

"You know him?" The response was implied.

"Yes, we were on a mission with him," Naruto said, Jiraiya, for now, didn't need more details. He cared little for that now.

"Well, now you're doing a mission for him rather, one that I offered so we could protect her and get the two of you together so you can speak with one another, now that she's allowed to leave her village." Something quite reckless given the times. "I told him of her situation and warned him about the Akatsuki, offered him to aid her so she could get safely home and he gladly accepted. The thing is that I've got business to attend to and I can't go into Suna without being noticed, ergo, I send you with another village that no one cares about so you have the best chance of going unnoticed while you make sure that there aren't any outside forces of the exam that attempt anything against her life. Once you manage that, you and the team you will be with will accompany her to the border. I will wait for you there, then the Shimogakure shinobis leave, and you and I, together with the Cascade delegation, will travel with her so she reaches her home and she ain't caught."

As Jiraiya spoke, after the ergo, his speech suddenly got faster and faster to the point Naruto had to look at the elder in search of any heart condition. He made it all seem simple and easy; it was nearly understandable.

"Also training you in one of the few things you are yet to deal with, stealth and deception.” Jiraiya was breathless as he ended his pitch.

“Why not ask Konoha?” Asked Naruto, ‘Ero-sennin seems to have gone overboard with this.’

"Can't. Konoha actually cares about the exams, and there's no genin team that I trust could pull this off. You don't understand how bad things are in Suna. There are leaks and interest in killing their Kage, and the chances of infiltration are quite high.” Naruto worried. “Shimogakure meanwhile measures their shinobis progress by a unique system, an age-related system. You cannot surpass certain ranks at certain ages. So while you will fight with two genins, we are talking about two with Konoha's chunin type of experience and abilities. Therefore, not violating any rule." Jiraiya said. "And not to be greedy nor seem crazy, but the stealth thingy I mentioned was maybe the second biggest factor. I want to test you and your abilities by challenging you to ignore and deceit those you uphold your ninja way to. To understand that there are things that came way before her, Naruto."

Shouldn't Fū's safety take priority over that? For the best to be the ones to protect her? Maybe these Shimogakure genin were older and far better than Konoha’s, but the difference in numbers… How many did they take to the exam? Three, maybe?

"And how did you get Shimogakure on board?" Naruto asked, not seeing how something like that comes to be.

"Some small villages bet on information as a source of power, given the lack they have of everything else. The military one, let's just say. I offered Konade many things that could feed that power, and she accepted. Told her certain things about their neighbors, came clean with many things of our own, and gave her a couple of scrolls of advanced fūinjutsu techniques used to create a sensing field within the village where you can notice everyone that comes to your shore. Handy if that person is unwanted or unregistered in times of war. Being a sensor herself, she loved the gift…" Jiraiya didn't realize how mundane he sounded while he spoke about matters of international dimension, Naruto couldn't believe that he was saying all this like it was a routine chore. "In the end, she even saw the benefit in participating, I think they've only done it once or twice at most in history. She claimed that the experience could be also beneficial for her genin, testing their level against the other villages."

It baffled Naruto. Jiraiya continued, he hadn't shut up in the last 10 minutes.

"They signed the deal with a clause, an obligation for you to warn and made conscious of the fact that your actions represent their village, knowing what that entails and to act the part. You will replace this boy," Jiraiya said as he handed him the picture. "His name is Watanabe Katsu and he will take the first exam in Konoha for you. We don't want you to go home yet. After that, you will be him. Let's hope that in his name you do nothing that he can't live up to."

Jiraiya looked at Naruto and saw a new face, one he didn't see before. Could it be admiration? Jiraiya thought, hoped. Celebrating his own existence.

"What?" He questioned.

"No, nothing. It's just that I'm so used to see you doing the buffoon role, some stupid and perverted stuff, that at times is easy to forget you are actually a Sanin and capable of organizing something of this magnitude." Naruto answered before being pursued by Jiraiya himself for calling him a buffoon.

* * *

Back to the present...

Gaara looked at Naruto, as he undid his technique and greeted him with his now more mature face. His more seasoned face. He is clearly and unequivocally, Naruto. He had grown much besides his hair. Despite the obvious features, Gaara didn't know if he was looking at the same person anymore. Until he brought his hands to the back of his head.

The wardrobe was no technique. He truly wore a Shimogakure style of clothes.

"It's good to see you too, Gaara." Naruto said with honesty before answering his question, seen as Gaara was in Kage mode and not in the mood for a bit of friendly chatter. Naruto thought that there wasn't anything wrong to omit some truth. "Do you want the long version or the shorter one?"


	8. Suna's Chunin Exam Part II

As soon as dusks fall, life rises in the desert. For as beautiful of a speech you could make about it, with some classic metaphor for when the times is its darkness we rise the brightest or something melancholic of shorts, Gaara rather enjoyed the preliminary of that falling. Seeing the daily disappearance of the sun's upper limb below the horizon.

Not all sunsets were the same, and its display in Suna's dessert had no equal. Had anyone dared him to do it, and Gaara would bet on it being the most breathtaking and ineludible one of them all, holding it up against anybody's with no second thought.

He was hoping to not lose many if any of them. Despite the overbearing work he had, he always made it a priority to himself to get to the top of his favorite hill in the Land of the Wind, and from it stare, as he finds the thing he had been cherishing the most in his new life, peace, since he still couldn't find it in his sleep.

It was an intimate location. He never brought someone with him to this place. 

Never would have he thought the first one would end up being Naruto of all people. Not meaning that he wasn't the one with whom he desires to share it the most.

After he had explained himself, Gaara asked Naruto to wait for him at a meeting point he thought appropriate and quiet. Just for them to venture into the mentioned hill, where they could talk freely outside the constrict walls of his office. Somewhere where nobody could follow them.

Now you could picture them both looking at the seemingly sempiternal desert and the different shades of colors printed on its clayey and sandy landscape. ¿How could someone not find beauty in the desert? Thought Gaara.

Gaara was standing in his now more displayable pose, standing upright with his arms folded, showcasing the rectitude and fortitude he had been known for in the last months. Naruto meanwhile was laying back, with no care but that of the sights, getting comfortable. Seated at the edge of the cliff, with his arms backs, and his feet dangling before the abysm. Quite the fall, he must add.

Naruto thought this was to Gaara what the Hokage's monuments were for him, especially his father's. The one place where he could just be, be with himself, in ease.

Talking about kages...

"... So we do indeed have our Kages printed in stone. Although ours are, you could say more hidden," Gaara explained calmly. "They remain in the Great Hall where the council meets, looking down upon those that decide the future of our country."

"Judging you?" Naruto asked.

"You could say that," Gaara claimed as he thought about it, recalling himself staring at his father's. He did not care for his judgment.

"And how does it feel when you're judging yourself? Your statue looking down on you." Mentioned Naruto, the many times he imagined his face upon that mountain.

"I don't have mine yet, Naruto, although I would think it to be interesting." Naruto looked back at Gaara as he said those words with doubt. "I've only wielded this position for 6 months and it ain't like many wanted for that to happen. I can imagine the sculptor fuming at the order."

Naruto could imagine.

"Gaara the freaking Godaime Kazekage." Said Naruto out loud. How incredulous he was still when hearing or saying that, to know that that corresponded with reality. 

He didn't feel envious. Shouldn't he?

Gaara had already ventured him into the wild ride that was his nomination to his position, how Temari too was in that final pool of candidates. They selected him not for being her father's son, for that warranted nothing in the council's eyes if not for his inherited capacity of manipulating sand, but for his abilities and the potential he had. He was by no means the strongest individual in the village, yet among those who were near that title, he was both the youngest and the closest.

It wasn't behind goodwill intentions that many selected him. Many were forced or lost in the vote to a majority. Many selected him under the thought of him as gullible, trying to feast on the guilt that he had for the actions that he had committed, for him in response to accept measures and plans which premises were for those people not to suffer anymore. Most of them being ruses. It didn't work.

Gaara actually thought that they were exposing him. Putting him on "The Spot", doing everything in their power to lead him to failure, just so once in for all he could be disowned. To be so broken that he offered his life in shame, in a redemption of shorts, together with him "giving back" the only thing they weren't willing to give up, Shukaku. 

Exile was something that many jinchūrikis could even desire, but could never be punished with under the desires the countries had to keep what they stored in each of them.

"Naruto Uzumaki, the future Rokudaime Hokage," Mentioned Gaara, almost questioning. He didn't know if Naruto's dreams remained the same, given his sudden change. Did that dream endure?

"Wouldn't bet on it," Naruto said inadvertently. 'Maybe not,' thought Gaara to his response.

'Do I still want it?' Though Naruto to himself.

Naruto chuckled at the mere idea of taking that Elder toad prophecy seriously. 'What did he say? Those who do not walk the path you do could help you when not imprisoned by the commands you have… You will not do much under the shadow of what protects that forehead of yours. Not enough to what is required.' Naruto thought back on it, his path and that symbol in his forehead protector. Not doing enough to what the world requires seems the mantra of the previous kages. What if the path and command he was to not follow were that of his premature dream and aspiration?

It was nonsense, but who better to question this doubt than Gaara.

"Tell me one thing, Gaara, honestly." Gaara was about to nod to assure Naruto of his honesty, but it would prove pointless since Naruto had his sets on the horizon. "If I told you that what I mainly strive for is to stop the Akatsuki and to achieve peace in this world, given that all those previous Kages have failed to attain it, would I require it?” 

It was a good question. One little thought off by Gaara. His aspiration to becoming the man he is now was to connect to his village, to not be the source of pain and sorrow to his people, to be something else than the embodiment, the physical form of fear, to be held dear by others as he honestly pursued the best for Suna and its many souls. It was an internal, both psychologically and geopolitically, projection, impulse. 

That didn’t mean that that projected image was aligned in any sense with the demise and impoverishment of others. He had taken steps to alliances but was met by indifferent responses so far.

He looked down to Naruto again as he continued, his tone getting lower as he blurted out an honest preoccupation.

“Obliged to a country that knows no interest but their own, with no regard for how to obtain them, even if it's all wrong.” Naruto already quarreled with the idea of sitting on his ass and signing paper all day. He couldn't afford that, not if other people he cared for were on the field. “Besides, who is to say that the fate of my country should rest only on my shoulders for being the strongest, that doesn't entail nor order, much less the peace I strive to achieve.” Said Naruto, recalling Yugito's words of a theoretical future world that reaches and manages peace under the ruling of the fear they would have for him upon what he becomes.

The Kage position designed was orchestrated by Tobirama, someone with a mind that could carry such a workload and the complexities of such varied fields, economics, politics, diplomacy... Naruto had no problem in admitting that he couldn't live up to that.

Naruto believed the Hokage position shouldn't resemble that of the leader of a clan.

“I don't know, Naruto. Maybe the speech that destiny is what you make of it doesn't cut it for you.” Gaara said thoughtfully. “But you can't deny that you could make more of it from that Kage position than in any other one that ain't the Daimyo and those under his command, the biggest fortunes in our land.”

They were a tedious part of the job, that bunch, as he learned the ropes Gaara reckoned the hazard of the job and the one those members presented.

“It's true that while our choices could be the most defining and changing, at times we are merely at their mercy, responding to petulant desires and childish conflicts. Us sending children to fix them. Plots for power, provocations… Wars, and conflict in which they profit. All could happen outside our control. Their positions are inherited therefore warranted, with no obligations to nobody for it ain't up to nobody to establish their hierarchy. When threatened, they have enough resources to make you pay for trying to pull anything on them.” Naruto knew none of it. “Even us Kage depend on them, we have to concede and feed their ego. So yeah, while there are other elements of more power, I believe there's no better position to be in to lead the change you want in the world, Naruto. For peace to be plausible, I think that is unequivocally necessary for all Kages to preach it and exercise it. An alliance of principles which hold crumbles the institutional background and ideology of those who will see us crawl and withered.”

Well, then...

"Then at best you're looking at the Nanadaime... I don't want to sound spoiled rotten like this ain't a calling of responsibility or that there will be a time where they will forever be on my doorstep for me to accept their offer, but if I can help it I want nothing to do with that title till I'm forty or so. No offense, buddy." Naruto laughed and chuckled while Gaara shrugged, thinking ahead, wondering if not for death, for how long will he hold his title… The mere thought. 

"I mean, who knows? Who says I can't end up living a civilian life, be it only temporarily. After all is set and done, with peace achieved, who knows of the means we may have use for it, the death we might have seen, the action… The battlefield. The idea of having a family to come home to after all that doesn't sound bad at all to me." Mentioned Naruto while fiddling with the crystal on his necklace. In the back of his mind rumbled his desires, falling in love, having two to three children, building a place he would gladly call home.

"You know you need to have a job for that, right? Be employed and all." The mundane and common side of life. Naruto and Gaara thought of the chance. Could you see them as a bartender or anything of sorts with the non-existent preparation they had for that? Or for any other job that wasn't that of the shinobi.

"I dunno, maybe in Ichiraku if they would have me. Maybe." Naruto said without thinking about it that much. He would end up colliding with Ayame, he knew that much.

Gaara looked at Naruto, incredulous. Maybe it was the setting and all. He questioned if they were both just tirelessly corny or were simply tired after a long day. Corny is literally defined as showing no new ideas or too often repeated, and therefore not funny or interesting, or being emotional and obvious from having been used too often. No newfound sentiments were expressed here. The sunrise and wanting a family, settling down… But the thing was that that was an achievement for those of their condition. Nothing wrong with a wholesome desire for something that you never once had. Naruto wanting a family was the most normal thing Gaara could expect.

He didn't believe that for a second, though, making it clear to Naruto once he asked why the face. Questioning him if he didn't believe him. When Gaara shook his head, Naruto laughed, inciting the redhead to smile in response. How many fourteen-year-olds thought like that? 

The conversation went on, Akatsuki and both plans were already a topic that they won't touch more. So was gone a curious topic, Gaara's questioning of Naruto's actions. Asking him if he could have eluded killing those men, independently of their intentions towards him, being ultimately men under his command.

Naruto confessed taking no pleasure in what he did, but precisely explained why he didn't have that much of a choice because of the suddenness of their attack. He didn't elude the responsibility of his actions, nor was elated with the bloodshed.

Gaara looked at Naruto and thought back to one day he did not dare to talk to him. At the time grudgingly being reluctant to say till another time rather than goodbye.

"I wanted to talk to you back then," Gaara confessed out of the blue.

"Huh?" Naruto turned to see Gaara.

"After the retrieval mission failed. I wanted to go up to your room but couldn't hide away from the unease I was feeling. Wondering if facing you would have aided you in any manner." Gaara paused, he wanted to emphasize his point, his doubt, and how at the time he had no problem in living with it. "You seem like you needed strength to fulfill the sole purpose that clouded your mind, and at the time I didn't understand either my purpose, yours, or how to inspire strength. If I even had it."

"The next time say hi, Gaara. It doesn't take more than that. We are friends, right?" Gaara paused as Naruto asked that. They may have only talked for three hours at most in their lifetimes, but giving all that Naruto had done for him, Gaara sure hoped that they were. Timidly, he nodded. "Then you have to stop over analyzing things. Been there at times is enough."

When Gaara looked at Naruto, he didn't know why he marveled. He reminisces the uttered words of both Yashamaru and Naruto. The principles by which they live their lives for.

Gaara embraced the fact that, like them, he had to find some things of his own. Find where that purpose meets that emotional attachment and that unique fire. Without embracing mentioned solitude and the darkness that envelops it.

Naruto said those who he now calls his friends saved him from himself. Yet Gaara knew he couldn't follow the same path, not strictly. He had to live with the luggage and weight of not having been saved, incapable of doing it himself, before lives were destroyed in the name of nothingness, of mere violence and hate, all done by his hands. 

He had to pave his own path, his own will, and his drive. And he was at ease with that. He had to find his way to face life and work towards that, without thinking of it under the sole and absolute sight of how to confirm the value of his existence. And he had been doing so so far.

The sun had long disappeared.

"I'm going to end the Chunin exams." Informed Gaara with more uncertainty that he would like to admit.

"Oh," Thought Naruto out loud. "Again?"

"What?" Asked Gaara, not seeing the point of continuing them. Naruto turns and raises his hands defensively.

"No, I'm not arguing with you. It's a wise choice. It's nothing but advantages for me. I don't have to keep pretending to be this Katsu guy, Fu's abilities are not showcased and we leave sooner. Primordially, you've already caught the man who led an effort to kill you…" Naruto clarified before roughing the back of his head, aware that convincing Gaara against ending them was irrational. "I mean, it just sucks that it won't end once again. Don’t ask me why… Well... If I had to guess, I would say that it is my thirteen-year-old self just calling for those two last matches they owed me. The final rather, for I already wiped out your ass once Gaara." Naruto mentioned with a smirk, reciprocated by Gaara.

"Then my sister would have beaten yours." Answered back Gaara, hoping to open old wounds seemingly as Naruto so desired to win that competition, teasingly of course.

"Not going to argue with that. Long-range shinobi weren't my thing back there." Said Naruto, back to the exams... "Are there any downsides to you canceling it?"

"Outside of Iwagakure disliking us more than they already do? Few. We don't have that good of an image to shell or uphold. We have a teenager Kage in a villa depleted of talented shinobi in comparison with the other of the Great five, with a deficit in trade…” When seeing Naruto’s stare on him, Naruto’s unease with Gaara’s onslaught of his own village... “That's just what you see before you even get your head out of the sand. This won't be sinking us deeper." Mentioned Gaara with fulminating honesty and self-awareness. "The mentionable thing may be the villagers' anxiety for the events to happen in the Coliseum." Said Gaara, before thinking of the troubling fact that they get off on children beating each other.

Gaara thought about it for a second. Not wanting to precipitate to conclusions.

The crucial question was if they could grant protection from outside forces of the exam and so far they proved they can, in between the many breakthroughs they had.

…

What harm could it produce, actually? The worst part had already passed. With Gaara's focus being on the younger generation, he wondered… Nothing could beat experience, and these battles handled many of it. Besides, they had already made a great effort so they could go so far in the competition, so why make them wait when they could go after it in the incoming weeks.

It could prove worthy given what he was about to do.

He had only one thing to take care of and all could be resolved. It could be a diplomatic mess if he pursued this and Iwa found out about the two cheating countries, one that went to the exam with two jōnins and a chunin.

"You know what, Naruto? I will sleep on it. You, my friend, are going home regardless." Mentioned Gaara as he sat down next to Naruto, looking sideways with a smirk. The blond stare was now upon him, wondering what the redhead had in mind. "This is a bare chance, I warn you. I'm thinking of redoing the final day of the second exam. I don't know why, but both the shinobis from Takigakure and Shimogakure will somehow fail the exam. Arriving with a single scroll or late. The remaining will finish the exam and the elimination rounds will be celebrated before the cheers of the arena, like thought from the start."

Naruto was amused by this new more than one menacing word speaking version of Gaara. He understood what he implied. There will be consequences that none want if either of those two groups disobeyed, logical to predict that they all will be briefed and warned.

"I like it." Mentioned Naruto as he chuckled. It was an entertaining thought. He got what he wanted, Fu out of this place. "That hungry for your people to see this event? You know you ain't guaranteed to win it." Both knew that it was not what this was about, but went with it regardless.

"Betting on someone?" Asked Gaara as he gave in the banter.

"I may have someone in mind." Mentioned Naruto with a smile, Gaara looked at him, urging him to go on with it. "Having seen her fight, Sakura." Mentioned Naruto.

"How could you not…" Said Gaara as he rolled his eyes. Of course he was going to mention a team partner.

'There ain't nothing to lose, yet there are some things to gain.' Thought Gaara. The chance of meeting Ōnoki in his sight. The longest-running Kage the Shinobi world had ever had, unmatched.

* * *

  
  


**Day 3, again…**

Gaara didn't even need to speak to Shimogakure for them to obey his directions. Under the lead of Naruto, it was a given that he would fulfill his emphatic recommendations. Convincing Fu was a bit harder, she was hardheaded. Fortunately, she had been here long enough to make enough friends and get some fresh air. After an hour of reasoning and thanks to the adamant position of her companions to drag her out themselves, she bulged.

The third day of the exam was rearranged and took place the day after, giving the corps time to check for any dangers in the field and to exclude from the mentioned corps temporarily anyone with ties or links to Fugi.

Six hours were what all teams had to get from the new locations to the tower that they had already gone to. They didn't have that much time to improvise. With both scrolls, obviously.

Time had run up and all teams that weren't already there were taken to the tower by instructors so they could get a patch up to then be kicked out again. Having failed to make it to the end.

The teams that did indeed make it were on the upper floor, staring at those who didn't, physically and a few figuratively, looking down on them as they were being taken care of.

Rather than focusing on no-one else, the members of Asuma, Gay, and Kurenai's team were standing up there, all congratulating one another. Sakura, Ino, and Choji were relieved. They were the second ones in the whole competition to arrive, so they had the rush of expectantly having to wait for all their teammates to arrive. Remaining hopeful throughout. Silently cheering.

"How did you guys manage, please don't tell me you traded it with some other team?" Kiba asked like it would be the most displeasing idea in the world. When they didn't answer. "Oh, come on!"

"Don't get startled, Kiba, we were just messing with you," Tenten said, laughing before lowering her voice. "They give us theirs without us having to give them anything."

"Say what?"

"Who gave you?"

"They told us to say nothing." Mentioned Tenten. Upon the enticing stare of all their partners, she gave in. Taking a deep breath before confessing. "It was the team from the Cascade, that Fu girl was so relentless and obnoxious that we had to accept it. She said it was in gratitude for Neji saving her life and Gaara's. I think she has a thing for you, Neji." Ended Tenten before looking at all those who supposedly passed. She hadn't seen the girl so far. Maybe they were in one of the rooms they had on this upper floor, resting.

"She just wouldn't stop talking," Said Neji, protesting, while the rest chuckled at his annoyed face.

This exam had proven to be blood-free, unlike its predecessor. But be it damned if some Shinobis that partake in it didn't make this one weirder. Neji had already brought up what happened, giving light to this whole surreal thing.

Time went on, some few yet to arrive. Later on, when Tenten looked down at the last teams entering, she gasps at the sight of Fu, the smile of this joyous discussion disappearing. Did they indeed fail? Fu didn't accept a scroll in return and now look at where they were. Neji and Lee were too surprised, even had astonishment in their eyes once they saw the wide smile she had on her face. What the...

For as surprised as they were, none could fathom being as flabbergasted and shocked as one member of the one team from Suna they had grown somewhat acquainted with.

"It can't be!" Said louder that she would've wanted a small girl named Yome.

Both her partners turned to her, and so did the rest of the Konoha shinobis. Shira, who was talking to Lee, given the two prowess despite their inability to perform genjutsu or ninjutsu, dared ask her about what had gotten to her.

"What is it?" Shira said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Instead of waiting for her answer, they all looked to see what she was so fixated about. Following her gaze.

It led to the Shimogakure team. Sakura, Ino, and Choji felt sorry. It was a succinct thought since they had been in the same shelter for what seems to be two hours or so.

"What's happening?" Asked Lee besides Shira. All the members of their team seem in disbelief.

"That team shouldn't be down there." Mentioned Sen, the other partner.

"Why shouldn't they be? They failed." Asked Kiba. "They are getting escorted like the rest of those losers."

Yome intervened, making things simple… 

"That team right there killed 5 shinobi that were after the Kazekage." Mentioned Yome to the shock of everyone. Unbeknown to them, she had a magnificent sight and a particular ability, using particles of water as enhanced lenses that amplified her visual capacities, therefore her range. 

She saw them in action for long enough. Enough to catch a sight of the abilities of the one with goggles. Being shrewd enough to realize that they are far beyond any of Suna’s teams’ level.

That statement… All, mildly putting it, were surprised.

They explained to them how Yome saw them, how they tried to go in aid of the Suna shinobi, only to be caught up in the storm and not find a single body nor rest of the brawl, the storm devouring all evidence. They decided against their better judgment to follow them in anger and vengeance, having thought in the beginning that they just killed their comrades. It wasn't till later that they found out that they were traitors.

A voice erupted.

"One of them captured some other shinobis as well. The brown-haired one." Said Neji of all people. "When we saved Gaara and Fu, he appeared out of the blue, having captured three of them."

Following the chronological development of things, both Ino and Choji pointed out a flaw with their narration. He supposedly was with them in the shelter. When mentioned the likely chance of him being a clone, they relegated and simply accepted it. Albeit, they never saw him make one. He had to be sneaky about it for them to not have noticed.

Neji was about to activate his Byakugan to look at this specimen when a hand grabbed a hold of his clothes. When looking down he saw this Yome girl looking at him and shocking her head. Whatever she saw made her wary and cautious. Scared. Enough to attempt nothing that had to do with the guy. 

She was trembling a bit.

Neji nodded. Excusing himself, saying he was going to go to the bathroom.

"Leave it be, Neji." Said Tenten, knowing perfectly where he was going.

One person was in shock with the turn of the events the moment she saw them, her sight not leaving them.

Ino followed the aforementioned person, given how she seemed lost and on the move. Worried that she was going after who she thought.

"Sakura, who are you looking for?" Ino said as she pursued her friend through the corridors of the tower that they were yet to leave. "Would you wait a minute?" As Ino reached her, she grabbed her by the shoulder, forcing her to not only stop but to look at her. "What are you doing?"

"Just looking for that shinobi from the Frost," Sakura said as she looked around the place.

"The one with the goggles?" Asked Ino while Sakura nodded in the run. "Why? Sakura, you just heard that they killed 5 shinobi and captured three others, probably jōnin by the level of the target." As Sakura continued her path regardless, Ino followed her closely behind, whispering loudly in her ear so she regained her senses. "You can't tell me that your first impulse after hearing that is to go after them so casually!"

'Something is going on…' That’s what uttered Sakura's mind.

Sakura's hunch led her steps. Before they both knew it, they were back in the hall among the crowd. Looking back at Ino, Sakura had the bad luck of tripping and colliding with somebody. 

Fortunately for them both, neither fall.

As she raised her sight, she saw them. She was lucky enough to collide with a companion of the person she was looking for.

"What the…" Tadashi was about to berate whoever had clashed against him. He wasn't in the mood. When he looked upon who would have the misfortune, he noticed. "Oh, it's you two."

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't look where I was going," Sakura apologized.

"It's nothing." Mentioned Tadashi, his face morphing into one of frustration, raising his hand as if pleading for help with something. "I don't think we caught your names back then."

"Quite understandable, given how we never gave them." Cut short Ino.

You didn't need an academic title to realize that something was going on. Ino, like her friend, had a sense that some things didn't add up, unlike her she thought they were not worth pursuing. Too much trouble.

"You are not a people person, are you?" Mentioned Sora as they all started to walk by, having other things in mind than dealing with Ino. "Anyway, good luck in what remains of the exam."

"What happened?" Asked Sakura before they even got past them.

"We were about to abandon before they restarted the exams given Sora's injuries, but he lied to himself and convinced us to remain. While you patch him up well, he wasn't and still isn't in no shape to fight. We were simply outmatched." Explained Katsu with no stammering, no doubt. Seeing Sora right now, Ino had no trouble believing it. If she could only believe that that was all there was…

"You on the other hand seem without a sweat on you. Finish early?" Asked Tadashi as he looked at them both. They seem rested and ready.

"You could say. Second." Answered Ino, smirking, Sora grumbled in response.

"Congratulations." Sincerely added Tadashi. Before he carried on, he put a hand on Katsu's shoulder and looked at him, tilting his head to lead him to look at their "sensei", who was calling for them. "Anyway, good luck with what remains of this thing."

"Thank you." Sakura said.

Sakura timidly took a single step, cutting into Katsu's lane. Looking sideways at her, he eluded her with a nod that came out of nowhere, just like the meaningless step she just took.

'You've grown so much. Good luck, Sakura-chan,' Mentioned with full anticipation Naruto having seen the renewed and resolute Sakura, breathless at her sight and eager to fight beside her. As he turned sideways to look at her for the last time before leaving the tower alongside their mission. He thought of the impending year and the days that remained till he was back at Konoha. Among those he held most dear.

"Stop looking already. Focus. Fu said they will wait for us at the gate." Mentioned Sora as they approached the mentioned point. Looking up and trying to look through the crowd. Sadly, his height hindered things.

* * *

"All right. Have you registered all the remaining ones?" Asked Temari as the lower floor was cleared and all those who failed took their leave.

"Want me to do a roll call?" Questioned Kankuro, taking the piss.

“If you don't think it's necessary, please don't. We are not in the academy.” Answered back Temari. “How many we've got, seriously?” Seeing too many among the crowd.

"Only 10 teams passed, so 30 members." Said Kankuro as he handed her a report of the matchups. The eliminatory rounds were settled. Accordingly, they weren't about to share this until this first round ended. It read like this.

_ Sakura Haruno (Konoha) vs Yome Kinuto (Suna) _

_ Ebinaha Sumuri (Suna) vs Akichi Sogawa (Iwa) _

_ Niri Tamudao (Iwa) vs Kiba Inuzuka (Konoha) _

_ Ameno Rachiru (Suna) vs Ameraki Katsugai (Iwa) _

_ Hinata Hyuuga (Konoha) vs Choji Akimichi (Konoha) _

_ Kazami Gomoto (Grass) vs Tenten (Konoha) _

_ Sen Hanoue (Suna) vs Okurata Tanako (Suna) _

_ Aijsai Mitsuze (Amegakure) _

_ Neji Hyuuga (Konoha) vs Yakaze Dozu (Iwa) _

_ Rock Lee (Konoha) vs Shishio Akkako (Suna) _

_ Shira Okabaru (Suna) vs Suiren Goda (Amegakure) _

_ Shino Aburame (Konoha) vs Hodate Itsuchiru (Suna) _

_ Barami Fumune (Grass) vs Mizumitsu Rinori (Iwa) _

_ Fuyo Sahana (Amegakure) vs Isowari Shamoto (Iwa) _

_ Ino Yamanaka (Konoha) vs Muyami Isodon (Grass) _

_ Koji Akosa (Suna) _

'So much for 32 or 16 to make it.' Though lazily Temari, they wouldn't have to improvise with the numbers for the matches then. She wouldn't let Shikamaru rub off on her, in that sense.

"They have half an hour to rest. Then we will start the final exam." Temari said as she posed thinkingly. "Let's give them something to think about meanwhile."

On the tower, there was a big screen and in it, the matches ahead.

"Guys, leave the chit chat for later. Turn to the screen." Said Kurenai loudly for everyone to hear, forcing them to leave their banter. Pointing in the direction their focus should look at.

Those who had already taken part in the previous exam groaned in disappointment. Initially, they saw a bracket and thought that unlike that last occasion they wouldn't have to deal with the nervousness in their gut as they waited to get called, one by one.

Hoping for the matches to be set 10 minutes before the first fight was about to take place. They found out that they weren't about to give them time to prepare for a specific matchup.

Some things were designed with great reasoning and endured in time. In many missions, they will lack the info of who they were about to face, had any knowledge of them. This emulated that.

In the screen instead would appear name after name and battle after battle would proceed each of them, many of them at this juncture so lopsided that the end was a given the moment those name’s paths intertwined. Sakura's physicality and strength were too much to handle for Suna's Yome, Kiba's fierceness was too much for his opponent as well. Neji, Rock Lee... Many of the members of Konoha had already made it through. With much ease.

The next matchup was about to put up on the board.

Hinata uttered a noise of surprise, a gasp noticeable enough as she saw her name on the board. Curse her luck.

She was to face Choji.

She didn't want to fight another member of Konoha in this first round.

It was bound to happen. Looking sideways to her comrade, she saw him nod as he stepped down onto the battleground. She closely followed.

Walking up to the jōnin in charge of the matches, he extended his hand, guiding her to the spot she was to take, Choji just ahead of her, looking her dead in the eye. Both nodded again, and each raised one hand with the symbol that called for respect among those that were to battle.

The proctor called for it to start.

"Hajime."

Hinata lunged herself at Choji, betting on him expecting her to be on the defensive. Knowing that Choji was not competent when thinking on the move.

Choji lunged his expanded arm, the size of a whale's fin at Hinata, in a rounded position. She jumped forward and eluded its downward motion. Doing a swift somersault during it.

Landing, she saw the ground that Choji covered. In it, he planted explosive tags on the floor, somehow. She had no choice but to jump, given the tag-filled area behind her, in his direction once more to elude any impact. As she did, it left her open as she had to brace herself from the giant punch coming her way.

She was propelled backward. Going through the rubble and the smoke that prevailed from the previous explosion.

"Human Bolder!" Shouted out Choji as he expanded and tucked himself into a ball, rolling towards his opponent. Pulverizing things upon his path.

Hinata was able to elude his attacks.

In the stands, their partners saw them going at it.

"Tuck like that, Choji isn't giving Hinata a chance to get to his tenketsu's points." Mentioned Kiba.

"She can't focus on them. If Choji clashes with her right now, she loses." Responded Shino.

Ino was more worried about her partner, though she should be. More than Kiba and Shino ever needed to be. She didn't see Choji coming out of this with the win. Hinata lunged because she wanted to end it at the start. Everyone knew Choji lacked confidence. His forte prevailed, or better said, rose once he could sustain the first attacks. If he somehow remains after a couple of minutes, he rises, both in strength and character. That's how he was wired. Ino thought Hinata was, manifestly, hoping for this battle to not get out of hand and to not escalate till they really hurt each other. Cutting out the chance too of him using his colorful final just.

"Expanded and tuck like that, his tenketsu became wider, easier. The problem is hitting them while he is rotating like that, with that kind of speed. She's gotta have an unbelievable aim for that." Added Neji, as Tenten turned to him, he continued explaining. "Choji won't keep up like that for much longer. Once he's done with that, he better find out another way to hide from Hinata. She's faster and more agile. If she's anywhere within range of him, he's done."

As Hinata ducked again, out of the corner of her eye he saw the ball, the human steamroller, quickly turn and go to the air, Choji turned back to his normal self and with eloquence in mid-air expanded both his arms, directing them both at Hinata, who was staring up at the incoming attack.

Both fists left a hole in the ground.

She was once again capable of ducking. Throwing a couple of explosive kunais, she forced Choji to retreat and gain space. Separation for her to think and briefly rest after the relentless attack of the Akimichi.

The moment she saw him reach for his pocket…

'Oh no you won't,' She threw three kunais. Choji had to jump to not be struck by them. The pills knocked loose in his evasion. As he reached out for at least one of them, a kunai with dead aim hit it, turning it into crumbles, into powder.

As he turned to see the thrower, he realized Hinata was closer than he would have ever liked. Bringing himself up, he came face to face with his opponent, who was just three yards away from him. He expanded his fist and threw it back at Hinata.

Hinata eluded him by sliding under his arm, hitting it during her maneuvering. Closing the first of his many tenketsus.

Choji groaned in pain as it returned to normal size. He didn't know what to do.

And it was not unbeknownst to him, he was within her range. He reacted too late…

"It's over." Mentioned Neji.

"Hyūga style: Gentle Fist." With lightning quickness Hinata hit more points than Choji could count, missing a right arm that was incoming as a desperate attempt. She jumped back, and he fell down to one of his knees.

A last futile effort. Choji used the last strength he had to throw a couple of kunais at Hinata, she did not need any technique to elude them, cooly let them go by as she quickly changed her posture.

It was over. Seeing Choji still on one knee, incapable of doing nothing more, all turned to the proctor who still did not make a call.

Choji didn't seem to be close to giving up, not if not forced to.

Hinata runs up to Choji, intending to attack once more. As Choji tried to do his expansion jutsu once more, increasing irregularly the size of the only place his chakra flowed, his arm, by the mere growth of it, the weight of it, as he raised it in between him and Hinata, he fell on his ass. Backward.

Incapable of standing up.

The proctor stepped in and shouted. "Winner, Hyūga Hinata."

"Hell yes! Good job, Hinata!" Shouted out Kiba. He was not alone in his cheering.

Hinata approached Choji, wanting to check on him. As she cut the distance short, she kneeled beside him, aiding him in the least. As Choji looked her in the eye, he congratulated her.

"Good match, Hinata." Said Choji, gathering an honest smile that Hinata reciprocated.

"I'm anxious," Said Tenten after seeing Hinata fight, still waiting for her chance.

The letters appeared once more on the screen. This time the one name to appear on the screen was familiar to Kurenai's team. Burami.

Burami was a morbidly obese shinobi. It may seem that these two conditions are mutually exclusive, oxymoronic, but somehow this creature, as Kiba branded him, made it work to get to this point in the competition.

Someone his size shouldn't move the way he did.

Kiba's only silent plea was for his previous foe to wear a shirt that fit his size. The dance of the muffin tops, you could call it. This was ridiculous in his eyes.

Rinori meanwhile was among the six Iwa shinobi to reach this point in the exam, many of them having been beaten already in these trials. He was a fairly tall white dude. Older than the Konoha 11 were. With brown hair and green eyes, an attempt of a bear growing in his rugged face.

He was one of the shinobis that Neji advised eluding.

**Mizumitsu Rinori vs Burami Fumune**

Rinori wasn't your typical cool, collected shinobi. He seemed angry. Scaringly so.

Neji and Shino were watching carefully, having the Aburame's insects caught on something.

The proctor repeated the same motion that he had been doing all along.

"Hajime!"

"Get ready to kiss the floor." Warned Fumune.

Faster than they could follow...

"Lighting Style: Raiden's Lash Dance!" Shouted Rinori after performing his hand signs quickly.

Out of the boy's fingers, straight strings of lightning appeared, and as he moved both his hands, he made them dance at such speed that not even the surprisingly fast Fumune could neither elude them nor do anything to stop them.

The whips of lighting wrapped around Fumune's body, who was scared to no avail. The shock of the electricity arrived at the boy's dismay, who shouted in pain.

When Neji saw Rinori's face, he saw a menacing smile. A horrendous smile. 

‘He’s enjoying this!’ Agitated thought Neji.

He saw him close his fist with force. The lighting intensified in response, so much so that it blinded those in the field.

"Fumune! Arg..." Utter preoccupied one of his teammates before too being deprived of vision. Feeling as if they were gouging his eyes out.

It couldn't have been over 8 seconds since the light struck.

When they regained sight, the proctor had grabbed both of Rinori's hands up, Rinori’s smile remaining. Stopping the jutsu.

Fumune was on the floor, having spasms.

The winner didn't need to be uttered. The focus was on Fumune's life. A medical team runs with the urgency that the boy's injuries demanded.

"Geez. What a monster." Mentioned Tenten. "Don't let me ever take your warning lightly." She referred to Neji's. This battle was quick.

Sakura was about to jump in the field. So was the Ameno girl, both being medical kunoichis. They were both respectively held back.

"Let their medics do their work, Sakura." Said Lee.

In between Neji and Shino passed a smiling Rinori, with care for the stares that were upon him. Embracing them. 'You just wait, Konoha... I will end each one of you.'

* * *

An hour later…

"The winner of the last match is Ino Yamanaka." Shouted the proctor.

"Finally," Mentioned Ino as she passed her hand through her shoulders, cleaning the dust from her clothing. She welcomed the rest.

What?

"Final Match?" Shouted back grudgingly a member of the sand. Erupting the clapping of Konoha for Ino's performance. The aforementioned shinobi had still not battled. A circumstance that he shared with a fellow Amegakure kunoichi. "What do you mean with the last match? I have not fought yet!"

"Then count yourself lucky." Said Temari as she imposingly made her presence felt.

"What does she mean?" Questioned Lee.

"They are gonna get to the next round without fighting Lee. Just so there are even numbers." Explained Sakura before the bewildered green dressed shinobi, who was shut by a hand that made way to his mouth before he shouted out how unmanly that was.

"If that ain't luck…" Chuckled Kiba.

"Now, listen up!" Shouted Temari. "Before I show you against who you will fight, know that you each will have a week to prepare for your next challenge, to heal, and to plan." As cries erupted, claiming how last time was a month, not a single damn week, they forced Temari to make an act of presence once more. "Enough! This ain't a negotiation. All villages agreed to it, you have one week. You will all prevail in Suna. We will give you the location of training grounds, a schedule, and supplies for the time being. After that, the exam will take place in the Coliseum, before the eyes of your Kages, many of your leaders. Perform accordingly." A pause was given for dramatic effect. "Now that we are set. Here are your matches."

The brackets appeared once more and in them the now more defined picture of the matches ahead.

_ Sakura Haruno vs Ebinaha Sumuri _

_ Kiba Inuzuka vs Ameno Rachiru _

_ Tenten vs Sen Hanoue _

_ Aijsai Mitsuze vs Hynata Hyuuga _

_ Neji Hyūga vs Rock Lee _

_ Shira Okabaru vs Shino Aburame _

_ Mizumitsu Rinori vs Isowari Shamoto _

_ Ino Yamanaka vs Koji Akosa _

Eight shinobi prevailed from Konoha, making half of the remaining participants. Quite a dominating feature. Kurenai at least thought so. All of the members of her team passed. So a proud sentiment was the one that prevailed.

Five remained of the country's host. One from Amegakure and finally, two from Iwagakure that were to fight each other. With their achievement, Onoki's arrival could be closer.

Tenten immediately looked at her partners, displeased with the idea of them fighting so soon. When she turned in worry, only shock prevailed once she saw them smiling. Of course they were.

"Yosh! Finally!" Shouted Lee, he didn't want an easy path to the final. "This is what I have been waiting for all along," Lee pointed at Neji. "You and I, Neji. Hand to hand."

Neji smiled and nodded in response. He too had been ready for this since the moment he saw Lee release his gates for the first time. He proved to be a challenging rival. It would be wise to fear him.

Tenten facepalmed, they were a couple of weirdos. As she rose her head from the pose she saw who she was to fight, going past her as she looked at her with a smile. When Tenten looked at her back, her mindset changed. She had been so set on her partners that she forgot that she too had been training to be ready for this. Tired, after defeating Kazami, she hadn't realized till now that she was about to face a gimmick of Temari. Her stare turns to the one who defeated her, she is the one Tenten wanted to face, but she seemed to have taken the jump to Jōnin before that could happen.

Sakura meanwhile stared at Ino, if they were to have a rematch it would have to wait for the finals. Having seen many of the shinobis fight, she felt quite sorry for her friend. Taking nothing for granted, Sakura's path to the final seems easier than most.

Ino's instead seems like a nightmare. All the big fish seemed to be in her pond. The luck may come if they beat the shit of one another before they were to face her. Neji, Lee, Shino, basically three bonafide chunin, Shira and the other wildcard in this thing, Mizumitsu Rinori, the shinobi who defeated the ninja of the Grass in two moves. As she looked at her, she saw her disbelief.

"Dammit." Ino claimed.

"Common, cheer up. We are borderline chunin already." Mentioned Sakura out of character. She wasn't one to be the light in the party, having a more somber demeanor. "We are battling here for Jōnin nominations if you ask me."

"You've hit your head, right?" Asked Ino. No one was making it out of here with a fucking jōnin position. When facing another genin, what warranted such a fucking upgrade.

"No… I mean," Sakura looked at Ino staring at her judgingly again, she was getting on Sakura's nerves. "Come on, can't you just enjoy it? Last time we were at one of these things, we were both on the floor, beaten."

"Yeah, I heard we were quite the spectacle." Said Ino. When they said it, they didn't mean well. Fortunately, they had already proven to grow a bit.

Kurenai reached her students as they were gathered, talking to one another.

"Good job." Congratulated Kurenai, more calmly than Gai of course. Her compliment awakened the smile in both Kiba's and Hinata's faces. Shino meanwhile had his stare upon the guy he would have to face if he defeated Shira, Rinori, who same wise kept his gaze on him. This one had something different in his eyes.

A unique mix of hate and joy. A combination that highlighted, morphed a unique stare.

  
  


* * *

**Somewhere within the village…**

"Tell me what you want in exchange for you giving me what I want. Make this easier for yourself, kid." Advised a Suna shinobi as he put his equipment on the table next to Hoichi. As he unrolled it, you could see the many types of knives and tools of torture at his disposal.

"You just heard Gaara-sama, we have given you enough time to talk, the next time we might ask you we might not do it so nicely. It's up to you." Mentioned another guard.

Hoichi remained undaunted. If they thought he was gonna bulge for a bit of pain, they had another thing coming.

The room was as secluded as you could imagine, underground. The room itself was designed to be undesirable. With no view, a homogenous opaqueness which only attribute was the common air conduct that all rooms of this nature had.

With his stare pinpointed on it, Hōichi saw something weird. Like distinguishing a single sand particle upon the desert. Was that color? He thought that at first that he was going mad until he saw the incoming gas that the room was going to be filled in. With their backs turned to it, the guards caught no sight of it.

They weren't even looking at him and his shocked glance.

"Gas!" Hōichi shouted as tried to stand up and free himself from the chair in which they tied him.

"Gas? No, we rarely use it. Why, do you want more? I mean, the menu looks appetizing enough." Said the guard amidst laughs as he pointed at the tools next to him.

"No gas, look!" Shouted again, Hōichi, hoping this time they turned.

"Yeah, right."

One guard did turn. As he looked at the air conductor, he fell prey to panic and went directly for the handle of the door, forgetting that this room could only be opened from the outside.

"Hey! Hey!" He knocked on the door. "Open the door! Hagai open the door! What are you… Cough... Cough… What are you doing?" The guard fell to the floor, with no remaining strength to knock the door open, clashing with his shoulder.

Hōichi tried relentlessly to move, feeling the effects of the gas. The only thing he managed was for the chair to fall, him with it.

All curtains closed.

Gaara was walking to his office to resume his work. The last stop on his schedule proved pointless.

The interrogation of Hōichi was still in its preliminary facets, having obtained nothing so far. The man's conviction was strong. At some point, unless you found an ultimate desire or weakness, interrogations like this would become a foolish errand. They had not resorted to torture yet, but if he did not speak soon they would. Gaara's hands were tied, so he accepted that course of action.

Gaara started looking through Hōichi's report as soon as he rested his ass up on his seat in the office. The mastery of fūinjutsu this man had exhibited had to come from somewhere. It was not widespread knowledge. The chance was that it came from the elders of the village. The report didn't say.

What it did say was troubling. Thinking back on torture, as he read his profile and the brief information it had on it, Gaara saw no point. Seemly, for as young as he was, Hōichi had endured worse than what he was about to.

You did not need to extract all nails from a person or break many bones to know if they would confess at the end. If they had the endurance and lunacy to prevail at the start, they will be fool enough to not confess by the end of all that blood and hurt, pain and agony, called it as you may.

Those tortures in the end, more so if the figure was innocent, were more likely for the questioned to just confess what the torturer wanted to hear, confirming what he seeked with his questions, pleasing their preconceptions and eluding further beating, rather than telling the truth.

In his mind popped a thought. Could those elders fix his seal?

How would it be to not lose control every time he shut-eye? To rest and not having Shukaku berate him every chance he got. Finding peace.

His trail of thought was interrupted…

"Gaara-sama!" A shinobi appeared at the door, almost passing it by because of the speed he was running with.

"What?" Questioned Gaara as he rose from his seat.

"There's a problem. They have taken Hōichi."

"What do you mean? I was just there!" Gaara punches the table. The first time he had done that since obtaining the title. "Go call for the hunters, tell them to search for any trace. I will go to his cell."

‘It can’t be,’ Gaara thought as he runs as fast as he can. Who was it now?

"Gaara, I heard." Said Kankuro, catching Gaara in the corridors and following him, running.

As they reached the room where they had him hidden, the guards were knocked out. Fortunately alive.

"Why would they leave them alive?" Kankuro asked.

"Focus instead on where they might have gone," Gaara said urgently, trying to reorient the focus. He notices something... "What's this? The smell… It had to be gas. I want a report on who had access to this place! Everyone that should be here that isn't or that shouldn't and was. I want to know everything. Any idea where he is?" Asked emphatically to the team that first arrived. Only for them to shake their hand and only point to the conduct.

Putting a cloth to his face, covering his mouth and nose, Gaara looked in it. He looked both ways, catching something there. 'What is this?' He thought. There was a spore withering. He had no knowledge of this being an endogenous one. Or if it was the product of some incredible jutsu, somehow.

"Someone look into this thing and tell me what it is. Hurry before it is no more," Gaara ordered once more.

Stepping down from the ladder, Gaara saw the shinobi that firstly advised him.

"The ANBU hunters had already been deployed." Mentioned with no breath left.

Gaara’s fist tightened. He hoped they had more luck than he did. He performed the best he could at this point. Performing his handsets, a third eye appeared. Its purpose was to get to the highest point it could manage, so he had the best view of the village. They couldn't be far.

His eye makes it out of the headquarters, rising high, atop the tower in the village's core. From it, he saw the hunters spreading, searching for the responsible perpetrators of this act.

  
  


* * *

"Taicho, I think I've caught sight of something."

"Where?"

With a motion, a member of Suna's ANBU incited his captain to follow him. Being able to hide behind a building. The Anbu pointed. "There."

They could distinctively see someone in ropes carrying something heavy on his shoulders. It could perfectly be a person by the size of it. He, clumsily, got inside a structure.

"Good job, Jerbo." Mentioned the leader as he waited for the door to be nearly closed to approach.

"Don't we need to wait or call for help?" Mentioned Jerbo, obviously a nickname to hide his identity.

"No, we'll lose them. Follow me." Said the captain, he formed a clone, being it who calls for aid, therefore not stopping their pursuit.

They quickly and as silently as they could manage, entered the structure. Going down the stairs slowly.

The leader closed his fist, raising it, ordered to stop, mimicking the target as he remained still in the middle of a long hallway with no door to enter. This was no dead end. Nobody attempts this with no plan of getting out, thought the captain, knowing better. Nobody successfully enters a village headquarters to end up getting caught lost in the middle of nowhere. Soon enough, the suspect proved him right.

The wall moved, a pathway that expanded the corridor they were currently in. Both followed. Having seen and memorized the steps to take for that occurrence to reoccur. The sequence of places to push.

"Wait, a second," Said the captain as the pupil was about to pull the same lock that the target did. After making some hand signs… "Now."

As the wall moved, they passed by and up their pace, still proving to be quiet, trying to catch up. The dimensions of this place shocked the rookie.

"Vulture." Quietly utter Jerbo. "Psst, Vulture," as his captain turned to him, "this must reach outside the walls." Utter, looking at the size of it.

"Quiet."

They continued walking, crawling even by the leverage they manage at one point. Suddenly before them, a binary choice, two different paths appeared. There was no delay, no afterthought.

They had no time for that.

The captain formed a clone who picked Jerbo by the coat, implying him to follow it.

This was no labyrinth. Despite the many turns it had, that before was the only bifurcation, the only diversion that could lead them to lose the target.

Jerbo was stopped from taking another single step, again. They saw natural light in the corridor; they had to be close to the exit. The clone approaches first the end of the wall before the turn.

As soon as they heard voices, kunai were slowly drawn. Both ANBU paid close attention.

"You better have a good excuse to call us here." Said menacingly a dark voice. "You were told to wait till the plan with Shukaku was doable."

"I'm sorry, but this couldn't wait." Said 'councilor Yūra!', recognized the captain, a sole word coming to his mind, 'Scumbag.' Traitor, too. The times he had heard him talk about honor and loyalty.

Vulture saw Yūra deposit whatever he was carrying to the floor. As he took the hood off him, they saw perfectly who it was. They had eyes on the mission's target; it was Hōichi. There was no room for doubt.

The captain's clone motioned to the rookie to approach and take a look while he looked at their six, covering their backs. Here they were alone. The captain did not know of how many enemies were there, so the choice of engaging was being postponed and in its place reign gathering information and wait for the requested help to arrive.

A searching party of hunters would find them in a matter of hours in the desert once they follow this trail, were they to escape.

“So this is the guy who tried to steal both bijū?” Said the hooded figure as he grabbed Hōichi by the face. Red clouds upon mainly black clothing. “Are you sure he has chakra of them both inside him?”

Councilor Yūra nodded like there was no tomorrow.

"You sure took a gamble with this. You've not compromised your position? Have you been careful?" Councilor Yūra affirmed with certainty before the questioning of the hooded figure. "Are you sure?"

Jerbo hid. Turning to his captain, he silently gave him the signs that they were about to engage. They should not wait if what they were about to gain was the power of the one tail.

"And that's not all."

"Huh?" The masked figure utter.

“The seven tailed is departing to her village as we speak right now. Accompanied only by two jōnin of her village,” Warned Yūra.

Jerbo turns one last time, waiting for the final order to engage.

Horror reign when dust replaced the spot where his captain's clone was. Had something happened? He wouldn't dare to engage alone. He was just thinking about retiring when…

"Ugh!" Jerbo chokes under the grasp of the masked figure who out of nowhere appeared before him and grasped him before he could ever gather any defense.

"So you weren't followed, huh?" He broke Jerbo's neck, not before looking him in the eyes and stripping him of everything he needed.

The councilor was horrified too, indeed. He looked at the Akatsuki member making the hunter disappear. Killing an elite member of Suna's corp like he was nothing. He was a former shinobi, and he had never seen that type of abilities.

He was coming his way, passing by his shoulder.

"The next time, it will be your neck I break if you prove to be so careless." He slapped him playfully in the face. "It's a shame, after the good news that you had just given me. I'm having an internal debate here, not knowing if I should reinforce your behavior…" Not delaying much. "Actually, why quarrel? I think we should reward you. Kakuzu, why don't you give our friend here a bag."

Kakuzu grudgingly didn't do so. Silently, not obeying. This councilor was not necessarily a venal man, this was no bribery or willing betrayal to his country, but the product of a control ability of Sasori. Human puppetry to levels Kakuzu didn’t understand. If anything, giving him money would only lead to unnecessary suspicion. There was no need for this behaviorist treatment. Maybe his companion had forgotten that.

"Come on, we don't have all fucking day." A bag of money found its way into the councilor's palms. The least Kakuzu could manage. "Good job, see? You did well. You will have much more than you bargained for if you keep performing like that. Wait for me to clean your mess. There are reinforcements coming, I will take the few that approach and you will get out of this passage once I'm done and nobody can see you. Am I clear?"

The councilor wanted to disappear the way he came immediately. Running with the tail between his legs and tears of terrors pouring down. But he waited. Displaying such fear more silently.

"You've heard that, Kakuzu?"

"Yes. Are we going after the Nanabi?" Asked Kakuzu.

"You are. Pick Hidan from wherever he is and go after her. You heard him, don't get cocky despite the few companies she's with. Remember who she is. This is too good an opportunity to not follow." Added the masked member.

"What about Konan's plan? Going after the one tail first?" Kakuzu wondered, he is the only member outside of the two main creators of the Akatsuki to know of this man's actual identity.

"This is too good an opportunity to pass up. Shukaku will have to wait for now."

"Don't we have enough of their chakra with the one that gathered this man?" That will be the last thing Kakuzu will ask once he sees the mask men turn to him and look at him with his only shown eye. His Sharingan. "I'm going. It will be done."

  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


embodiment a concrete representation of an otherwise nebulous concept More (Definitions, Synonyms, Translation) 


	9. The Voice of the Fallen

Naruto looked at Fū and wondered. Wondered if at a certain time his friends could have told him to look at her, pointing her as a mirror where he was to visualize, exactly, his previous showcased behavior, the reflection of his eight to twelve years old self.

That alone, not being the only thing that clouded his mind. He hasn’t been capable recently of reorienting his focus away from the bigger picture. 

The plan of all jinchūrikis working together was one far away from being in the making. In the making of the principles of how it was or could take place, rather. For there was one fatal flaw like Yugito had pointed out, warning him if he knew of him rather than it. Naruto, unfortunately, had. 

Having seen his work firsthand.

"You just don't stop talking, do you?" Questioned Tadashi without raising his voice, annoyed with Fū's relentless, carefree and child-like banter. 

It hadn't been that long since their departure. A single day had passed. Naruto not having yet undone his jutsu, where they to encounter another squad from the exam in the frontier.

"You don't stop being mean, do you?" Questioned in response Naruto, provoking Tadashi as the blonde and Fū went ahead from the rest of the group to talk alone.

"No, actually Sora is usually the grumpy and mean one of us both." Said Tadashi.

Sora was about to protest, looking at their sensei. When he noticed him nodding in agreement, he decided it was best to leave it alone.

" **Please tell me we ain't going to have another intervention, now with Chomei and that other girl,"** said a voice in Naruto's head. Seeing the boy not answering and before the chance of that repeating, Kurama warned. " **Just so you know, brat, Chomei is mute. Or at least I think he is. I don't recall him saying much."**

'Do you like any of your fellow bijū?' Questioned Naruto. How come Kurama got so peevish when they were about to meet one of his… Naruto didn't dare say sisters or brothers. He leaves it as framed in the question. One of his kin, he could say.

" **I like Matatabi and Kokuo... Saiken maybe… Son Goku and Gyuki I could survive if forced to, but yeah, I don't generically enjoy their company very much." Said Kurama with an annoyed face.**

'Fantastic.' Though Naruto. Who could have ever told from that last encounter with Matatabi that Kurama actually likes her? All being thought of in the outer dimension that was his mind, before being warned about his trance by a knowledgeable Fū, knowing where he was at. Looking at Naruto with a smile.

"We will accompany through the Land of the rivers, the moment we are in the Land of Fire, our paths separate. That was the deal." Mentioned the jōnin of Shimogakure to the nod of everyone.

Naruto for sure hoped that Jiraiya was at the meeting point.

He thought back on one thing. When talking with Fū earlier, she encouraged whatever initiative the blond had to establish at least a communication network with the other jinchūrikis, if not for an alliance. Sharing information, and not only that, training tips, building rapport between them... 

When encouraging, Fū said how thrilled she was about it all, about meeting all their fellow jinchūriki.

Naruto, when hearing that, was bemused, reluctantly disagreeing, in the back of his mind claiming, 'If you only knew Fū, if you only knew.'

But to his surprise, she knew of the someone that he was reluctant to meet.

"Fū, you said you met Roshi, right?" Fū nodded in response. Naruto couldn't understand. "How could you be excited to meet a man like that? Do you even know what he has done?"

Fū did not respond, for she did not know of that. Naruto’s stare was one of incredulity. It certainly was great to meet someone without expectations or knowledge of who they actually were, their actions, even more so if it was a sole occasion, minute duration kind of affair. Rather than knowing and being shit scared for the few seconds you spent with the mentioned person and the hours after, thanking that you got off easy off that. Unharmed.

Roshi wrote half the pages to a two writer tale of horror known in the whole shinobi world. A tale with many names, the sculptors of death, Hyōton and Yōton, Izanami's atrocious or barbaric spawn… Things of that nature. Their acts being that of monsters.

Demon was one word Naruto did not use given how he was signified by it for a long time, how he wanted for it to never be linked to his condition, or that of those who shared it, for it had nothing to do with their nature.

If he ever had to find someone appropriate for that title, though.

"Fū, everyone knows of Hyōton and Yōton... Iwagakure's death-inducing couple?" Maybe she grasped one of those names. 

Naruto clarified loud enough for those who were a couple of steps behind them to listen. Wondering what topic they could ever discuss which path ended in the mention of those two abominations. All except Sora were knowledgeable of who they were referring to.

"Yeah, so? I do too," Said Fū, confused. What did that have to do with anything? With Roshi? "What does that have to do with anything?" She questioned, not knowing where Naruto was getting at.

Naruto only arched his eyebrow, showcasing the answer that in a matter of seconds led Fū to grasp it.

"Don't tell me..." Fū wanted to throw up. Naruto nodded.

"He's Yōton." Naruto simply put, a line of questioning proceeded that assertion. Naruto's mind draws its own picture of what those two actions entailed. To whom they did them too.

* * *

Flashback...

"You don't want to know the story behind it, young man."

Naruto spun at a flashing speed at the voice, with his hand going for his kunai holster. Before he could draw one, he saw who had just talked to him.

An old man.

It didn't make any sense. According to Jiraiya, Uzushiogakure wasn't supposed to be inhabited. It was the ruins of a former village, yet here remains an elder figure? Naruto didn't utter a word, keeping his hand on the holster, just in case this was a genjutsu.

It seemed suspicious; he hadn't noticed him till now. Had his mind trailed off that much, was he that distracted to not notice? To not acknowledge someone approaching.

"Who are you, boy?" Questioned the elder once more to the incredulous Naruto, who still had no answer in his stupor. "Mute, huh? What if I introduce myself first, would that help you open up?" Naruto shyly nodded. "My name is Kaiyō, Uzumaki Kaiyō."

Naruto could distinguish him as an Uzumaki, given the pictures of them he had seen before in those abandoned homes, their features. He knew how likely it could be; once he could cope with the idea of someone living in this ghost town. Despite old age, he seemed to have some red hairs still on his scalp, seemingly young looking for the length of his journey. And after all, he was in the Uzumaki hometown. That didn't erode Naruto’s suspicions or reluctance to engage in anything with this stranger.

"I think it is your turn now, boy." Brought up correctly, Kaiyō.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Finally claimed Naruto, recently aware of the meaning of that surname, his heritage, that he had heritage.

Why lie or keep it hidden? He thought. 

The elder looked at the boy with wonder and doubt.

"You an Uzumaki?" He questioned looking at the boy's features. Blonde hair? He didn't think that no clan had whiskers as a differentiating feature, but who was he to judge? Uzumaki's traits they weren't, that for sure.

"Apparently," mentioned Naruto to the bewilderment of Kaiyō given that odd answer. Right now, he doubted this boy was nothing more than the vanguard of a scavenger party. 'Apparently?' Kaiyō thought again.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Kaiyō asked suspiciously. Naruto looked around once more in the same manner, wondering too whether they were alone. "You don't speak much, now do you?"

"I would… Had I any clue myself of what I'm doing here," Naruto stated.

"Searching for your roots? You're an Uzumaki, aren't you? I could have guessed that much." Kaiyō chuckled.

"It was not my choice to come here. I just recently learned of the fact of who I am, so… I don't know. It's complicated," Naruto said inadvertently. As he saw the old man's eyes twinkled, he understood he had just revealed that he was not alone. It was obvious actually, he was just a 13-year-old. The look in the elder forced Naruto to ask something "From 0 to 10, how sure are you I'm just another scavenger?"

"With your age and that face of yours, how doubt-filled it is, with eye bags the size of my thumbs, a 2 maybe." Confessed Kaiyō, before asking. "Could I know your parent's name? The Uzumaki one, of course, I may know of him or her. Might help you lower that two to zero."

"Once you answer me if you're alone." Responded Naruto.

"Would it bother you that much to answer first?" Naruto looked at Kaiyō as he asked and wondered if they were seriously going to do this, like infants, not wanting it to take forever, Naruto gave in.

"Kushina."

There was a widely known name for the people of Uzushiogakure, thought Kaiyō sarcastically. "I dunno, boy. I have never heard of her."

"Neither have I." Responded Naruto bluntly. Out of his pocket, he picked the picture that he had all along of her, showing it to Kaiyō, who in response marveled a bit.

"How come?" He asked rhetorically. She was definitely an Uzumaki… "What was she doing in Konoha?" Kaiyō presumed that by the boy mentioned of never knowing her, that she was indeed dead. He could also see the resemblance between them, their eyes. It was that blatant, the face, the eyes were that of his mother. He carried her looks. The boy was indeed who he claimed.

"I don't know," Naruto mentioned. He left before having a conversation in-depth with Jiraiya. He was that angry. Details and things of that nature weren't asked during their unfriendly chat.

A name resounded in Kaiyō's mind when mentioning the topic of any Uzumaki on Konoha, for he could only recall one case, Mito. 

He recalled that arranged marriage for which the aforementioned woman had to go to Konoha. If he didn't remember wrongly, the wife to be of the first Hokage was sent with a very clear purpose besides furthering that useless alliance. She was to be the first…

His reasoning quickly led to a shock. 'Could it be that he is…. That she too was a jinchūriki!' He thought immediately.

"Oh," Kaiyō mentioned. He was about to ask what he suddenly realized, but the boy honestly seemed like he didn't know. He was not about to blurt out a conjecture, leading to this lost boy to rise in anger. Nothing pleasing nor welcoming would come from confessing the tale of how the place you are in, the home of your ancestors, probably shipped your mother in order for her to carry one of the heaviest weights one could ask of a fellow human being. Knowing they treated her like goods, like merchandise, wasn't about to induce Naruto to have good vibrations for this place.

"Yeah. I ought to ask some questions when I get the chance." Claimed Naruto. The tale of his parent's lives obviously being something he wanted to know anxiously.

"I don't know why your mother was sent to Konoha, Naruto. Wouldn't want to venture into guessing. Knowing our shinobi world, who knows… Be it what it may, we are not without our mistakes." Naruto looked at the elder with more doubt than before, the one he continuously exhibited. He had said nothing that warranted this subtle apology. Where was this coming from? "In the end, maybe you could say she was fortunate, looking at this place and what they've done with it." Supposed Kaiyō as he handed Naruto his mother's photo back. "It's always good to see some of our people returning. What are you doing here, then?"

Naruto pointed out how he foretold to confess if he was alone once he answered his question. Chuckling, Kaiyō shocks his head, negating. "No, I'm not, as you could guess. Come with me."

"Wait," Naruto mentioned before the elder took another step. He couldn't grip a hold of the pace that things were occurring. 'Just like that?' He thought. Five minutes in and he was to follow him? Where?

Besides, curiosity got the better of him on another subject. Not wanting his imagination to run away with him.

"What?" Kaiyō exclaimed.

"What's this?" Asked Naruto. They hadn't moved away from the previous sculpture.

He recalled that the elder warning him, telling him he didn't want to know, but the fact was that he did. He did indeed. The emotion he felt earlier when first seeing it and when close… 

"You don't seem in shape to listen to many tragic stories right now, Naruto," Warned Kaiyō. Seeing the boy relentlessly stare at the girl, he sighed. "It's the legacy of those awful days. 18 years ago. When we were annihilated. Iwagakure's doing, bequest mainly." He pulls down the armband he had on him, throwing it to Naruto, who thanks to his reflexes, caught it. Not having been focused on it till now.

As Naruto extended it, he saw its distinctive features compared to the normal Uzumaki symbol. Out of instinct, he raised it so that it was near the girl's hand. The broken finger in the symbol was an exact copy of the one the girl had. 'This is weird,' he thought.

"What's the meaning of this? Why carve this?" Questioned Naruto.

"Carved?" Oh boy, thought Kaiyō. "Naruto, that ain't no structure, pardon me, a sculpture of marble or concrete. They're dead people. That's Hyōton and Yōton doing."

"What?" Naruto said in shock, the shock taking him a few steps away from whatever this monstrosity was.

"As I said, you don't want to know the story behind. You are young, but I would have thought that many of the tales of the war of this world had at least reached you." When Kaiyō saw Naruto and the disgust he had after the realization that these were two people killed in such a unique and memorable manner, not in the good sense. The trace of two actual and real lives, not the carving in the name of two factual or divinized ones for the sake of decoration or history. "We are at the center of the old city. Looking at it, nobody could believe it. I don't blame them. The exuberant amount of lives it once sheltered." Kaiyō looked down. The destruction of this place speaks for itself. "Now... All that remains is the rubble and victims like these all around. The product of lunacy. A forceful memory."

Naruto stared once again at the child bracing the older figure. Protecting him from what was incoming, facing her death head-on. It sickened him to his stomach. As he looked down at the armband, he wondered why. Kaiyō once again didn't require any questioning for him to answer the boy's thoughts.

“We no longer write our history and deities in an abstract world, Naruto. While staring only at ourselves, our world and believes we forgot many things, the way to act towards good most times, the consequences that our actions entailed, and the intentions of many parts of the world towards us. We believed our course of history had little in common with that of the rest of the world, living on an isolated island and all. They proved us foolish.” Kaiyō thought Naruto was owed this story, him being an Uzumaki after all. “Eighteen years ago, when Iwagakure came to our shores with their mighty force and that of some other villages, we weren't ready. It was Ethnic cleansing Naruto, genocide. A war crime which dimensions you can't fathom to understand if you were not present. They wanted and effectively achieved to remove us from history, for our bloodline to be passed on.”

Naruto noticed Kaiyō's gaze upon the girl, too. 'Eighteen years ago, that's not that long ago,' Naruto reasoned. Just happened five years before he was born.

"You ought to think wars last longer than ours did. In a matter of a week they defeated us, our leaders killed. Ashina was captured and forced to give our clan's secrets in exchange for saving each villager’s life they threatened to take as they took them through the main plaza, with an executioner waiting with his sword in hand. Children even. He knew they were gonna be killed regardless… The greatest leader and shinobi in the history of our clan and he had to pretend to be senile so he didn't have to witness that." Kaiyō looks to the center of the place they were in, said plaza.

The way that Kaiyō explained things, it's like he was just experiencing them. Presently being there. One could fear looking at his eyes and in their reflection seeing all with plenty of detail.

"Unlike many other countries, our island does not have much shelter for those who want to hide. There's no jungle for a militia, let alone for thousands of people that wanted to hide. The few skirmishes that came after that week, we lost them all. Those who couldn't escape in the boats, going past the whirlpools, couldn't stay here, for the only hope that awaited you here was death or jail. Over twenty-five thousand people lost their lives that in the first month, three thousand could escape and the rest… Well, we are what remains after the invaders left, taking everything they could get their hands on."

Naruto had walked for longer than an hour among the ruins, and it wasn't till Kaiyō appeared that he had caught sight of another person, not that he expected it. It was quite easy to claim this to be a ghost town.

"When we knew it was safe to go out of our hideouts, we soon realized as we stared at what remained, that our clan was dead, yet decided to live. To live under a new set of beliefs that could not be of conflict, for we can't survive another one, a new marker so that we could carry on in spite of that. Leaving behind what occurred, so that we didn't remain crippled. Your dear Konoha shinobi wear our symbol to our insult, for they are not worthy of it after not aiding us. Our so-called allies. A month of conflict and not a single one appeared."

Here Naruto was waiting for an answer of what was before him, the girl, and instead, he just got this figurative sucker punch as the man trailed off.

He stiffened. By the timeline of it, his mother was alive. Naruto didn't know if she took part, if she knew of all this, how she felt afterward... He became aware, though, with perfect knowledge of each Hokage's reign, that this again fell into the hands of one man in command, 'Sarutobi.' He called out.

"We thought that what was better than an act of unsullied love, of valiance to be that new symbol? The torch amidst darkness if you're into allegorical novels."

Naruto didn't get that part.

"One of our survivors told the tale of what happened here, seeing it all trapped in the debris. A story confessed not only by what you see in front of you but the avowal of other survivors. At first, we didn't even know all their names." Said Kaiyō, pointing at the people before them. "We even called her Amateratsu, like she didn't prove to be enough by herself for us to call her like one of the great goddesses." There was an initial stance where they turned to the divine, claiming her to be the reincarnation of it. When Kaiyō thought of them, he might talk about two people.

They lost everything, so no one could judge them for losing their rationality.

“In disarray, being pursued by the cleaning squads of Iwagakure as they sweep door for door all the houses they could enter. It seems the man that lies before you had no choice but to abandon the confinement of his home, it no longer being safe, with his daughter Hana in his arms.” He paused after saying her name. “Bruised, hurt and hungry, he shielded her for a full day despite the swarm of shinobi outside in the streets, hiding for the night in a basement nearby in the company of other desperate souls that thought were safer than they really were.”

“Before the sun had even risen they were found, forced into running for their lives once more. They hit him in the back with a kunai, but shrugged it off, leaving others behind as those they spent the night with were being caught one by one. After hours of carrying her, exhaustion and blood loss caught up to him. Forced by the pursuit, they ended up in the main plaza of the city. He ought to be so caught up with escaping those that trailed them that he had no regard for the fact of where he was going. Ending up at the main core of the enemy forces. Here an aimed shot managed to hit him again. He stood up, picking his daughter, and with no consideration for his pain nor terror, he kept striding till he couldn't anymore, in between the laughter of those sick bastards and the watch of the prisoners. Despite the most valiant of efforts, his body gave up before his mind ordered it to. Leaving them both in the most precarious situation. Being in clear sight and seeing the attackers, this little girl stood in between his barely conscious father and the shinobis that attacked them. Pleading for him to stand up, incapable to aid him in doing so herself, pleading for help at the beginning, with tears in her eyes, only for those cries to not be aided as the prisoners' struggle and efforts to respond proved pointless. She raised her hand as if she could stop them, unwilling to let his father behind and run away despite the silent pleads he uttered.”

Naruto’s bottom lip quivered. Kaiyō’s eyes misted. No matter how long it had been. How many times he told this story...

“She stood in between, protecting the person she loved independently of the capacities she had. Roshi and Okoda, Yōton and Hyōton, being the merciless and sickened monster they were, performed their prized ritual of pouring lava into their victims with Roshi before Okada froze them both, creating this outer layer of… I don't know. While it may have been an instant, as you can see, she didn't turn away from them and neither ducked, unprotecting his father. She faced death directly in the name of the one she loved, unwillingly to give up. The most ineludible act of care and courage coming from someone who was taught none of it, an effort that came purely from her own unreached will. The will of a child".

Naruto tier up, he didn't expect that. His eyes watering as he stared at the girl before him. The details that prevailed in their bodies were horrifying, it was an unnatural consequence of violence. She indeed had her eyes closed, but her head pointed at whoever she had in front before dying. Her killer. The flesh rained down a bit, the few seconds in between the lava and the cooling of the mentioned were showcased. The decay too started to show after almost two decades.

"It's the highest act that could ever be achieved, the sentiment of love and courage that we believed was necessary to rebuild our home in many ways. Of honest care. Not wanting to erase the harshness of history we tainted what surrounded that circle with the blood that was spilled and before the symbol of our clan her broken hand, showing how despite injury, of terror, with realism, she did what she did. Protecting him, us. Not turning away. The vibrant red color of our swirl perished." Ended Kaiyō.

Naruto passed his forearm over his cheeks, wanting to cut the downstream of water that emanated in his face. Sobbing and gathering himself.

He didn't even notice Kaiyō turn and walk away, not until he called him.

"Coming now that your curiosity is sated, Uzumaki Naruto?"

Naruto turned, the armband still in his hands.

"Where?" Naruto queried.

"You did say you wanted to know if I was alone, I want to show thanks to whom I'm not. Those who survived and remain, young Uzumaki." Stated Kaiyō.

Naruto while lost remembered a little detail, a tall someone. It hadn't been long enough, but he had no choice.

"I have someone with me," Naruto exclaimed. Kaiyō knowingly nodded.

"I know, he's coming here. You should warn him we fill this place with tramps for those that aren't Uzumaki. Our blood seals are worth being scared of, for the misfortune of your friend." As Kaiyō said that, he pointed to the direction from which Jiraiya was coming.

Naruto wondered where his statement came from. It wasn't until Kaiyō told him he saw a couple of small toads that were paroling the town that he understood. Not having to wait long before they both could hear and see Jiraiya as he ran up to them. Jumping besides Naruto, nor in a defensive stance or anything of sorts, having seen them both in the distance at ease. Lost and confused, he couldn't elude pointing at Kaiyō.

"What's happening?" Jiraiya said.

"You have interesting companies, Naruto." Confessed Kaiyō, fully aware of who this new figure was.

"I would have waited where I was if it wasn't for..." Naruto interrupted Jiraiya.

"I know." He was still mad with his godfather, but right now his focus was to divert to what was about to happen. "Jiraiya, Uzumaki Kaiyō. Kaiyō, Jiraiya of the Sannin." Said Naruto.

"A pleasure," Said Jiraiya as he extended his hand. Both could see the reluctance that Kaiyō had towards reciprocating that action. There could lay a bit of resentment in his eyes.

"So you're the reason this boy is here, as lost as he is?" Questioned Kaiyō. Jiraiya simply nodded.

Kaiyō stared at the two shinobi before him, Naruto being incapable of sustaining his glance at the elder. 'Whatever happened between these two ought to be interesting.' He thought. He motions for them to follow him. When asked where, he didn't answer. For the time being, it surprised Jiraiya that Kaiyō actually believed the unlikely but real truth, that the boy beside him was an Uzumaki.

"I was going to suggest you both took off your forehead protectors just in case, but given that your companion Naruto is no other than one of the Sannin himself, it is little to no avail. I warn you of the looks that will come your way due to where you come from, your home, Konoha." Warned Kaiyō as he leads them through the debris that was the core of the village.

“The looks?” Thought Jiraiya out loud. "There was never any report of surviving Uzumaki remaining in the village."

"Not many searching parties came our way, wanting to aid." Sassy. "The ones that came did so too late, only finding scavengers." Elucidated Kaiyō. "The core of the previous structures we had built over the last hundreds of years was so pummeled, that between the safety risks, the sanitary ones and how vulnerable and visible we would be; that the choice of moving somewhere else was simple."

Naruto and Jiraiya turned as they took a step upwards, moving uphill, looking back at the urban background. It wasn't the first time that Jiraiya had seen this much destruction, unlike Naruto who couldn’t grasp the image, so the curiosity didn't come from the scenery that resulted from the war, but where were the Uzumaki inhabiting now and how come they remain in the dark for so long. There were no plantations that he could see. No crops, no fallows, nothing.

Did they even trade for their supplies? They wouldn't remain unknown if they did. Did the travelers from the diaspora send what was in need? Jiraiya didn't know.

They kept going up, Kaiyō, giving his age and how steep this was, had tremendous pace. In relative terms due to his age, he was quite the fit athlete.

"There's a small valley hidden in between this small formation of mountains. With built tunnels from where we can operate and escape were they to venture outside the city." Informed Kaiyō before imperatively stating an important matter. "Follow me and don't do anything that I don't, okay? We set this place with traps, so unless you want a scare or to learn at first hand what Fūinjutsu can do, don't get hasty."

The couple from Konoha nodded. In a matter of five minutes, as they raised up in the irregular and steep landscape, their wonderment grew as they noticed that no trail or path seemed to be carved. They did as told, not letting their confusion guide their actions and following Kaiyō, who went forward towards the unscalable part of the mountain, at least for someone of Kaiyō’s age.

The angle of it must be 100°.

They could not foretell where they were actually heading, not having a clue and not seeing a guiding trace. Soon enough they were at a dead-end, like facing a wall in the hallway.

Kaiyō walked in it!

Naruto and Jiraiya look at each other for the first time since Jiraiya had told him what he deserved. Out of the wall came out a hand that invited them to get through.

'Genjutsu?' Both Naruto and Jiraiya thought. A mirage. The entrance into the valley was covered by an extension that none would venture into wondering.

An extension of the mountain itself.

'Oh, damn,' Solely said Naruto on the back of his head. 

Going downhill, along a more narrow stretch that you could hardly feel comfortable in. 

As they made it past it, he saw it.

Kaiyō called it a lake, neither Naruto nor Jiraiya would call it more than an oversized pond. It was in the valley's core. Round it, they built few structures. They couldn't shelter a community in the hundreds. Naruto and Jiraiya turn in circles in wonderment, looking at the place.

It couldn't be over 3 hectares, if it even reached to be two. The remaining Uzumaki all gathered in such little space.

On the mountain, rather in the intrusions of land in its support structure, the massive holes in the walls of it, were some houses and complex crafted constructions even. It proved unique in Naruto's mind. He had never seen a place like this.

Little did he know that the more seasoned Jiraiya did neither.

Beautiful was not the precise word to describe, albeit it has its charms.

Some eyes were set on them from the moment they entered the valley and they passed the first houses. Redheads looming everywhere.

"We're in for a surprise. Which kind I don't know." Said Kaiyō, chuckling to himself, before adding. "We don't have many guests, as you can guess."

"Where are you taking us?" Questioned Jiraiya.

"To meet everyone," Kaiyō responded.

After the previous warning, the exposure didn't thrill Jiraiya.

"To be heckled by everybody you mean?" Asked Jiraiya, preconceiving the turn to distaste once the halo of wonderment was lifted, or the contrary, an initial halo of distrust.

"Maybe." Kaiyō conceded. "But trust me, the sooner you deal with this part the better."

They approach the more crowded zone. Having seen them from afar, the villagers left their house, slowly approaching them, yet maintaining enough distance or looking through their windows, looking from the doorstep of their homes, all wanting to catch sight of who was arriving.

"Who's the leader?" Questioned again Jiraiya, not understanding that he was not to be inquisitorial in his current position.

"You will see." In the blink of an eye, rather than being the three alone, impending the many steps before the crowd, they were surrounded by a not elated bunch of shinobi that in formation wanted to hold them in place. "Or maybe not."

"What's the meaning of this, Kaiyō-san?" Mentioned one of the Uzumaki that surrounded them, bewildered by the mere idea of having an outside presence in their home. Kunais hadn't been drawn, yet.

Jiraiya and Naruto didn't utter a word, thinking that the only result of that would be to escalate things.

"I can perfectly explain." As they approach closer… "That is if you left me."

"Bringing Jiraiya the Sannin, Konoha, to our home… You better have one hell of an explanation." Mentioning a young woman imposingly, all stares focus on Jiraiya.

Despite being on a small island in the middle of nowhere, in a secluded area where they prevail with no contact with the outside world, they knew of the elder. 'In the end, he might turn out to be right, they know him overboard.' Thought Naruto, hoping that he did not inspire this sentiment elsewhere.

"This has nothing to do with the Sannin, but with him," Said Kaiyō as he extended his hand, pointing at Naruto, guiding the glares.

"What of him?" Questioned the guards, not letting them move a muscle. When staring at the boy, they saw nothing that warranted this kind of treatment, the passage to their land.

"Him? What's he doing with that in his hands?" Wonder another of the guards pointing too at Naruto, who still had not returned the armband. He didn't notice, jumping in a rush to make amends.

"Oh sorry, I didn't notice." Said Naruto as he made the effort to hand back something of so much symbolic value.

"No worries, kid, keep it," Said Kaiyō, not dismissing the matter, but rather with conviction, actively, before the surprise of his people.

"What?" Said Naruto and the guard in unison, both in disbelief.

"This represents all the goodwill that we want to raise in our people, Naruto. We may have a debt with your lineage," He said once again out of the blue. 'In consequence of the treatment we had towards your mother and although it could never be enough nor a valid apology, let's hope is enough,' That Kaiyō thought, not daring to blur it out. "Think of it as a way to remember a part of who you are, your mother even. Besides, you're an Uzumaki." Kaiyō said with full felt emotions and with the honest hope that the gesture could be a pathway for Naruto to not despise a part of his roots. The people that made that kind of decision were long gone and with all the stakes they had at hand, apologizing for actions that weren't their own would prove disheartening and alienating if kept in time, prolonging it. It wasn't heartless, but a moving forward kind of approach.

Naruto looked down at it. Hana's will… His mother's will. Naruto didn't even know how she died. A way to remember her? Envelope in this mystique of symbolism, this armband exemplified the courage and love of a figure who was ready for the worst in hopes for the best for the one she cared for most.

The will of an entire village, a clan. As he looked at the guards, forgetting their surprised looks, many filled with doubt, all had the armband upon their attire, same wise as with the forehead protectors.

This means so much.

Naruto bowed respectfully, grabbing ahold of it.

"Are you sure about that?" Mutter a guard.

"Again, who's this child, Kaiyō-sama?" Questioned another.

The way they talked to the man, amidst presuming of his madness, they seemed to not raise their tone or imperatively called him to retract in any of his actions.

'Sama?' Thought Jiraiya, who was this guy again.

"Sama?" Naruto didn't hold it in. Kaiyō turned to him and smiled. "Don't tell me you are the leader?" Kaiyō's smile turns to laughter.

"Oh god no. Could you imagine… No". Said Kaiyō as he tried to stifle his laughter so that he could explain himself. "No, Naruto, although close enough."

Before the anxious stares of all the present, Kaiyō extended his arms and silently pleaded for everyone to calm down as he lowered his palms.

"All right. End the fun I shall. Guys, this boy here is an Uzumaki, the spawn of a child born here, Kushina Uzumaki." All looked at the boy, not trusting. "Don't bother. It is factual truth, you're in no need for a test, believe me."

"So you say. And what if he is? Look at his forehead protector, why bring him here?" Questioned the young woman with care, not wanting everyone to go off simply because he had some Uzumaki blood in his veins.

"I don't know." Nobody facepalmed when Kaiyō said that. This was no light-hearted or joking matter for any of them. Naruto and Jiraiya simply grew uncomfortable. "It ain't only a hunch or a gut feeling, I don't know how to explain it best. I just simply did it."

"Did you even ask them what they are doing here?" Wonder the woman. Increasing her displease with this carefree attitude.

"Yes, but I was answered with doubt, Ashita." Stated Kaiyō as he turned to Naruto, who still had not an answer to that question. "I must admit that it flew past me to ask again, but maybe now that the Sanin is with us, he can give us an answer, given how this trip had to be his idea."

Talking about the spotlight.

Naruto folded his arms and turned to Jiraiya to look at him incisively. He wanted to hear him say out loud the maddening reason he was here, the primary purpose that it had… For everyone to hear how nuts it all was.

Jiraiya didn't see any exit, he was to tell the truth. Currently, even Naruto would call him out if he was telling a lie, not exactly being on his side after the previous reaction.

"Well?"

Naruto said nothing out loud, but Jiraiya could hear him saying 'go on, tell them…'

'Crap.' Thought Jiraiya before eventually responding. "Well, given the boy's roots and the nature of this island, secluded and uneventful, outside the prism of the major problems that we have in the continent, I thought of this place as the best one for us to train in. Gathering even some scrolls if there were any left, even for him to venture into fūinjutsu," Jiraiya confessed. "Of course, we didn't have a single clue you were here like I already said."

"Your boy talked about his roots as if something he had recently grasped, came to know," Kaiyō said with wonder. Jiraiya gasped, looking at Naruto who had no mercy or pity in his eyes for him.

He was indeed angry, so much so that he personally answered that part before these people, with whom he shouldn't.

"Yeah, as recently as the moment we set a foot on this island." Said Naruto.

Jiraiya obviously couldn't respond by saying this wasn't this people's business.

"I..." He couldn't come up with more than that.

"Saying it's complicated wouldn't cut it, now would it?" Intervened Kaiyō.

"No, it fucking wouldn't," Naruto's tone was not that welcoming.

"My wonder ain't about that. I don’t give a fuck about these two backstories. As I said..."

"You aren't going to repeat your point about them being from Konoha, are you, Ashita?" Kaiyō asked.

“Are you gonna dismiss that now?” Questioned one guard. Hard to dim that fact unimportant. 

“After everything my grandpa did for them, for them to not answer when the time came.” Her tone and look lead Jiraiya to the easy conclusion that she execrated all things related to both his and Naruto’s village. “Give me a reason to trust them,” Ashita stated, waiting for the old man to give her a single reason why she shouldn't beat them both.

"I don't have to. My resentment in that regard is bigger than yours Ashita, I was present at the time. But that responsibility falls on the Sanin and like I won't repeat, my wonder is towards a fellow Uzumaki. With the few that are left, he has a right to see this, what has become of us."

Kaiyō didn't want to be extremely harsh, shouldn't you have already noticed by the name semblance, Ashita was indeed the direct successor of Ashina, so that warranted a bit of respect. His granddaughter. Too was the fact of her prowess and status on the island.

"What right could he have?" Mentioned another guard.

Naruto closed his fists. It wasn't like he wanted to live up to the expectations or wishes of this place. Again, for as little as he knew, he grasped they ostracized his mother in some manner, someone you didn't want to meddle with in such a manner in order to have Naruto's good wishes.

“I think he has many.” Said one present.

“Nadera?” Kaiyō voiced his name with doubt, wondering what he wanted to point out.

“Sorry, sir. I just thought I had to speak up,” Nadera said, vowing his head. He was a tall bearded man in between the harshness of childhood and middle adulthood. You couldn’t pinpoint where. 

“Speak speak. Speak up, please. Do you know of her? Familiar with the name?” Kaiyō wondered with curiosity. That had to be so long ago that among the small sample of people that remained, little did he expect for anyone to remember.

“I think so… I mean, I just added up what you have said so far, them being from Konoha, and I recalled. It had been bugging me.” Naruto's eyes were immediately on this figure, and so was his interest. And so was Nadera’s stare on him. “At first I couldn’t picture it, the how or the why, but that name sounded familiar, like I heard it somewhere. And while I’m not that certain, I do know about the two only figures this village ever sent to Konoha and stayed, couldn’t assure that one of them is this Kushina you speak of but it fits. They were both girls, Mito and her by my guess. Their cases didn’t resemble each other. Mito was an arranged marriage if I recall it correctly,” Nadera had just about proven Kaiyō’s theory.

He has Naruto’s attention, all right. It was a given if he knew about Naruto's mother. So far, what he said was troubling.

“A guess? What are we to do with a guess?”

“There is not much margin of error, the boy is either a descendant of Mito or of that other woman,” responded Nadera in between the protests. There was no other scenario if as Kaiyō claimed he is an Uzumaki and he was from that land.

“How do you know this?”

“I was in Konoha, actually. My father ran the small enclave we had there and brought me alone one last time before we abandoned it and left it to the care of the Senju. I met Mito then, she was the only Uzumaki left in the village according to my father once we left.” So far so good… “After that, he was still in charge of deals with Konoha and I swear I saw her, that other girl. I saw her once before they left. Also, one escort was my brother’s friend. He died protecting her, so that girl was a topic of talk in our house. Unfortunately, I do not remember her to the point of being able to point out the similarities between you. She had yellow clothes and very long hair, as far as I recall. She ought to be close to your age when she left, maybe younger,” Nadera added.

“Yeah, it was Kushina,” Jiraiya confirmed. The stories and times matched. What’s more, according to Minato, Kushina had lived in that enclave for a time, but it was so far in the outskirts of the village that it lacked any practical value, too long a daily travel, so she moved to the core of the villa.

“I mean then, he’s owed something. Come on. That’s what you meant when you said when we had a debt with his lineage, didn’t you?” Nadera asked Kaiyō. The older man nodded. Nadera finally grasped it. Their chat was inciting anger in his partners by the look of them. "Those types of practices were… What a fuck up thing to do.”

‘What practices?’ Asked Naruto in his head, his expression morphing.

Upon the new silence, Nadera turned to Naruto. “Do you carry it too?”

"Too?" Naruto said, shocked. He had a lead to what that too was. Despite the ambiguity of how it was framed, despite the multiplicity of things it could mean that too, when he said carry, something automatically clicked. You could not fathom to understand his feelings as he thought of the chance...'Oh no no no, please no.' He didn't want to think that what he believed they were about to tell him was in any way true.

"Yeah, like your mother before you and Mito before that." Added Nadera.

Naruto looked at Jiraiya, searching for an answer. When his glare reached the height of his eyes, he noticed that Jiraiya's stare was too on his, his look speaking for itself. Naruto came to the realization.

His mother was a jinchūriki.

He made an effort to not stumble out of shock, fearing ending on his knees, seeing that any movement could warrant this shinobi's imminent and awaiting retaliation. This just rocked his hold to his mental world, his reality. 

He was confused to no avail, confused, and angry. Unshed tears. Did she ever go through with what he did?

Suddenly realizing too that she was being shipped by these people for that! The warming tale of meeting the Uzumaki was withering. Instead, he was before the pricks that dare did that to another human being.

With Nadera's question still unanswered, Naruto didn't know whether he should answer. If he looked up to Jiraiya once again, he would tell them all they needed to know, if they hadn't realized it the first time around or when looking at him at this single moment, a boy who couldn't raise his stare from the floor.

"Carry what?" Questioned a voice in the background.

"The Nine Tails," All the figures, except Kaiyō, Jiraiya, Naruto, and Nadera himself, took a step back. "They sent both women for their capacity to hold the Kyūbi, for their endurance, and huge chakras." 

"What of it?" Asked Naruto with anger. His nails were enhancing a bit. His voice got deeper, but not enough for them to notice the big chance. His pupils remained blue.

For now.

Jiraiya begged Naruto silently to control himself.

Gasps could be heard. By now, all the people of the village were looking at them from a distance. The focus of everyone’s gaze. This was a once in a blue moon kind of occurrence. None approached, so they neither heard anything said until now nor could Konoha's members hear anything they were mumbling.

"So let me get this clear. The last time Konoha's actions were of consequence to our people, the thing to distinguish was their disappearance, which led us to lose for a matter of numbers, facing two of the great five alone. The close extermination of our people. In no part thanks to the last time one of this so-called jinchūriki appeared on our shores, melting our people alive, when not to make them living statues..." Ashita posed apparently thinkingly, although not capable of faking composure given her anger. "After all that, our response to such actions is to let them into our bulwark with no afterthought. I mean cool. Cool, cool, cool..."

"Bigotry and prejudice ain't endearing and enchanting qualities, Ashita. You're speaking of them like they're the same, prelude that they're to commit the same actions. Be careful now, you may not want to be lectured into what either attitude leads to," warned Kaiyō. He always cared for those of her lineage. They were powerful people in matters of strength and will, feared warriors with smarts about them. Proud. But they were too idée fixe on some matters. Inheriting such opinions and ways of doing things not by nature, but wrong teachings that led them to be cold, lacking the emotional intelligence that Kaiyō believed necessary to lead. That led him to be part of this new government.

"Are you expecting more understanding from my father?" Ashita asked with a smirk on her face.

"I'm not solely expecting anything from one sole person, much less with this matter. Remember that your father is an elected man and that this kind of quandary is up to many more opinions than his alone." Said Kaiyō as his index finger circled, highlighting the entire town, village, whatever you want to call it.

"The whole town is gathering." Nadera Simply stated as Kaiyō turns to Ashita.

"This conversation is over, escort us or move aside, Ashita. We're going to the hall."

Ashita greeted her teeth, seething with anger. To let someone in with so little information was something beyond sketchy.

Being in no position to stop them, the trio continues walking the path near the small lake, hoping to reach the main inn of the town. Seeing the villagers approach furthermore made Naruto and Jiraiya worry, wondering if they would be part of another delay. Forceful perpetrators of another stop.

Whispers were heard as the path diverged from the water.

"Who are they?"

"What's a Sannin doing here?"

"What's Kaiyō thinking?"

"Are those whiskers?"

"No one has ever come here, why would we let them now. Fucking Konoha."

"Cowards."

"Would anyone miss them if we took our revenge on them?"

"They didn't even make the effort to send a delegation this large and considerable during the war. The wonders that we could have done with a midget and an elder." Sarcasm was strong in that one.

"Dad, who are they?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Konoha shinobi from the looks of them. People of the continent. It's better if we keep our distance."

Naruto thought back on Kaiyō's empty praise of his people. The first impression didn't recall in any manner the values he preached his people had built, upon which was to rest the weight of their development and progress.

He felt like that child once again, the child that roamed the streets of Konoha being called a monster for actions he had never committed, parts of history in which he had no place or agency.

"Feel welcomed yet, Uzumaki?" Whispered Ashita in Naruto's ear, pointing out with emphasis his surname. Each word lingering.

"Like I was back at home," Responded Naruto with honesty, an honesty that one could misconstrue as sarcasm. Like Ashita did. Jiraiya knew better, looking down once again, reminded of his recent words.

There were no monumental structures in the center of the valley. The houses were dispersed enough for greenery to remain in between them.

The one exception to the rule was this inn. An agora kind of built. Its dimensions sufficed to give shelter to the population of this place, which wasn't that awe-inspiring of a figure. If these were all the Uzumaki that remained within the island, they could be counted before the hundred, thought Jiraiya. How these people survived and reproduce was something that Jiraiya's mind wanted to elude, incest taking place more comfortably in his mind in weird erotic fiction, some of which he wrote, that when he came to face it in reality.

They had to know each other on a first-name basis, all of them.

People were stopped momentarily from entering it.

"We should cherish these first moments alone with the upper echelon, after that we will be swarmed by everyone," Kaiyō mentioned before turning and noticing Naruto looking at the side, snickering. "I warned you of the looks, Naruto." Behind him, Ashita was enjoying herself too much.

'Don't worry, I'm used to them,' Naruto thought. 'This place ought to be a second home… My ass.'

They passed the pillars, before walking down the stairs they saw in the middle a group of seven people who turned towards them. Whispering. Their stares were simply plastic.

'This is going to be fun gotta be the least thought phrase before heading into one of these things,' Thought Jiraiya.

"Wait here. Stand behind me." Kaiyō said as he approached the elders, leaving Naruto and Jiraiya alone with each other. This was not the best time to not be talking to one another. Naruto could notice the stares of the villagers behind them, feeling a small breeze in his nape.

"I hope we can look back on it as the worst first impression that we managed to get past, it being the best experience despite it," Jiraiya said to Naruto's silent response, agreeing. His first impression was actually Kaiyō, and until now he was the only pleasant part of this entire experience.

Withdrawing from this didn't seem plausible, the least when all the members in front of them started approaching.

"Here they come." Said Jiraiya before looking at some sulking faces, this promise to be an enjoyable experience. As they turn, Jiraiya regains memory of meeting one of them, here hoping that she had a short memory.

"Now, here is the curious boy that I found in the city," Kaiyō said as he pointed at Naruto. "Naruto, Jiraiya, seemly as they all know of you, let me introduce them, from left to right..."

"That won't be necessary Kaiyō, he does not need our names for us to talk to one another and solve this matter quickly before they depart." Said Shoken, Ashita's father, after interrupting.

"Charming." Responded Kaiyō to the man's manners.

"He doesn't voice our opinions, just his own. The name is Miwara, Uzumaki Naruto." She said as she extended her hand. Naruto did so too in response. "Now! Jiraiya-san, tells us the whole reason behind your planning. Why you're here?"

Jiraiya debated being honest with these people, not regarding their behavior as a factor when doing a quick pros and cons scheme in his mind. This was a great opportunity before for shelter and training, with actual Uzumaki remaining here, it could prove to be a not great but a golden occasion.

They had inadvertently overstepped their boundaries coming here, Jiraiya sensed the entitlement they all felt as if they were owed an explanation, were they to stay or as their pleasant friend claimed, leave… Given how they found out of Naruto's jinchūriki secret and how secluded and out of the "game" they were…

"How in toon are you with the events that are occurring in the shinobi world?"

When their faces turned into ones of confusion when not of negation, Naruto turned to see if there was a place where he could sit. This is going to take long.

An arduous wait was incoming as they made sense of the current state they all seem to be so ignorant about.

...

Naruto waited for Jiraiya to end his briefing, simply staring quietly beside him. Looking at Ashita's father, reciprocating his unbecoming and unpleasant stare. Was he gonna stare, leer, at him like that for much longer? 'What a jackass.' Though Naruto, 'it might run in the family' he added.

The chances of him liking this place were dwindling.

"So what all implies is that the Akatsuki doesn't affect us, basically. Care to introduce me to reason, a reason why we should shelter you, becoming a target." Wondered Shoken with a smirk.

"Yeah, if they are to threaten all the big nations, we are the better for it. I would sign a petition and even aid them." Added another of the seven.

"You can't seriously mean that."

"I'm doing this because he's an Uzumaki." Answered Kaiyō. "If we don't help one another, then what fate might await us? If this is a rebuilt and we are to welcome those that come back, this could be a splendid start."

"He ain't one of us, Kaiyō. Besides, he's from Konoha." Answered another member.

Naruto clenched his fists in anger, tired of not saying anything before these supposedly bunch of "adults."

"Why the long face Kaiyō? It's the truth. He hasn't been nurtured in our ways, our culture. He just learned of who he is and you just let him in like nothing. This place was to be a secret from strangers. And in case you hadn't noticed, he is one, he's not from here." Shoken added repetitively.

"Who are you to say..." Started claiming Kaiyō, not being able to finish his words.

Naruto didn't care anymore.

"You're right, I'm not, not that I want to be, anyway." Everyone turned to Naruto, seeing his anger as he focused on Shoken. "Not 2 hours ago, I was an orphan, the son of nobody, with no name but my own. I was told that Uzumaki meant nothing, that they gave it to me for no reason other than to have more than Naruto to mention when they ask for my name. Two hours ago I was motherless, and now I'm standing before the people who simply ship her with no consent to another country, to be a vessel. Again, unwillingly." If stares could kill. "If you think that I'm searching for your approval or acceptance, as if I owe you something, think again." Said Naruto before the shock of everyone. "For all I care, just tell me if I've got any close relatives here alive, grandparents or uncles and aunts, maybe, so that I can ask them a couple of questions. After that, you can go fuck yourselves."

… Everyone stared blankly.

Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto, before reorienting both the tone and the present atmosphere of the conversation. "What he meant to say is…" Naruto brusquely free himself from Jiraiya's grip, his anger with him rising, if that was ever possible at the moment. To think that after all his fuck-ups, he would dare infantilize what he was honestly claiming.

"I know perfectly well what I said." Naruto claimed, standing and not leaving after saying those words, the 'fuck yourselves' bit so loud that many of the villagers outside could grasp a part of it.

'Kid got spunk, I will give him that,' Miwara thought with a smile, seeing the looks of the other members of the council. Even Kaiyō was blank. 'Oh boy.'

Shoken was about to take a mindless step forward towards the boy, but a wise hand kept him in his place. If Shoken dared to attempt anything on the boy, he would get killed by the Sannin. The son of Ashina was surprisingly not the first to protest or go verbally after the boy.

"Petulant brat! How dare you?"

"Mind your tone, boy."

Miwara, before having to deal with the incoming brawl, thought of a better thing to wander off to, disappearing briefly with no one noticing.

"Naruto you're not helping." Said Kaiyō as he stood in between.

Cries of protest, tones rising, reigned in the next two minutes, voices stepping on each other, making whatever they each claimed incomprehensible.

"Kaiyō, you've really done it this time. You've outdone yourself." Added Shoken pointedly, his index finger violently shaking as it showcased his wrath, inches away from Kaiyō's face.

"Could you just calm down, he's just a kid," Said Kaiyō to his partners.

"That kid now knows where the fuck we are. All because of your doing. You go look at him and tell me why should I let him leave? He will tell on us. Like that fucking Sannin will to their Hokage." Shoken this time put his finger in Kaiyō's chest. Kaiyō's demeanor wasn't that of a man who would tell him to go fuck himself or to simply punch Shoken in response, but don't think that he would back away, or tremble in fear.

"Furthermore reasons to welcome him. Attempt it at least," Kaiyō stated.

"The Hokage is Mito's Uzumaki granddaughter." Jiraiya pointed out to the bashfulness of some members.

"And what of it? Where was she when all happened, huh! I for one don't have many desires of reunion with distant relatives given the present one." Pointed a man as he referred to Naruto.

"Second that!"

"Could you behave like the responsible adults that your positions preconceive you to be," Kaiyō begged at this point.

"Rich coming from you after this stunt."

Naruto looked away from the conversation for a second, noticing Miwara approaching them. When did she leave again?

She had a giant book at hand, with two scrolls kept steady in her armpit. She seemed to be groaning, an incredulous look as she realized they were all still going at it. She tried to look above them, trying to catch sight of what was happening outside the agora.

The complete town seemed to be at the door, looking at them, no one attempting to go past the guards and venturing inside.

As she got a few yards again, perceiving Naruto's stare on her, she winked at him before throwing a scroll to the floor. Some wrist she had to have, or some special type of scroll, because as it hit the floor, it unwrapped, completely showing what it contains. A circle with some weird markings.

The bickering stopped for a second. 'You know he is one Miwara, this goes beyond that,' Kaiyō thought. All the Uzumaki knew perfectly what that scroll was.

"What's the meaning of this Miwara?" Shoken asked, his eyebrows twitching.

Miwara raised her hands, tired of their demeanor before claiming."It was better to bring this and go past some things than to paralyze you all so you stop your pouting. What a scene you're making."

"And what's this?" Asked Jiraiya.

"That seal is all the proof these fools need to know with certainty that Naruto is an Uzumaki. A blood seal that tells you whether he is or isn't." Naruto looked down at it. "This one the other hand..." Miwara said as she opened the book. "... is the register, a census of all the Uzumaki before us. With the different branches and houses, relations of parentage..."

"The fact that he's an Uzumaki has nothing to do with..." Whoever was about to go on was interrupted.

"Will you stop it! The boy is already here, so unless you plan to kill him he will forever know of the existence of this place, it's not like he is alone in that. Unlike you, I trust Kaiyō's judgment here. And like you, I believe that trust has nothing to with some matters, with the fact that if he somehow isn't who he suddenly believes, if we were to teach him in our ways, he could be hurt or killed because we blindly venture into it. This is all the proof we need, for us, for him and the villagers."

"And then what?" Questioned Shoken, having no angst for the moment when the boy poured an infimum amount of blood into the scroll, already believing that the boy is who he claimed.

"Then we all come down and face the facts. We show him who he is, who we are, and shelter one of our own like they desire and teach him. Even laughing and cheering, myself for certain, at your mercy once you realize who he's to you," Mawari claimed.

"Just like that?" Shoken said, forgetting that last part.

"Just like that, because when they eventually leave this island and we will ensure they do so safely, knowing perfectly who to blame if they don't," She stares at Shoken directly, and his trio of cheerleaders "you're going to have to deal with the fact that you can't monitor him twenty-four seven independently of where he goes. Learning to trust that he won't say anything and that the boy would at least not act in this town disinterest. Given that not everybody wants to kill us and given that I'm the only one in this place with knowledge on memory and the art of how to manipulate it, Shoken, therefore being the only one capable of choosing if I was to erase it. Those are your few chances after Kaiyō's stunt, which we all can agree was reckless, coercing, and sudden. So tell me, what is it going to be?"

Kaiyō had no time to be thankful for Mawari as he saw Shoken's dark and insidious smirk.

"Don't even think about it, Shoken. I will beat you to unconsciousness myself before that." He warned.

"Where's your pacifist self at the moment old man?" Shoken asked, smiling.

"Delegating in others so that I don't look away and don't intervene before you plant a cursed seal in a thirteen-year-old boy."

'A cursed seal?' Thought Jiraiya in disbelief, taking a step towards Shoken, erasing Ashina's son’s smile immediately as he stood imposingly before him, two heads above him in height. Jiraiya didn't want to utter a threat out loud, his eyes spoke for themselves though. 'I will kill you, you arrogant bastard.' Jiraiya thought.

Shoken unnoticeably gulped.

Miwara put her hand on Jiraiya, subtly pushing him back before he could step on the scroll. She acted before this could somehow escalate.

"Naruto, could you give me a hand here," Miwara said as she pointed at the scroll. Naruto knew what to do and conceded with Miwara, seeking to help her from her struggle, hoping too to confirm that Uzumaki's side of him. If not, and he was lied about who his mother was, he would go berserk. "Just bite your thumb and press it in the middle."

And simply enough Naruto did, just like when summoning only that in slow motion as he aimed without difficulty to the dot in the middle.

Miwara could lose herself when explaining how this worked. The thing is that even if asked, today she wasn't in the mood for it. A long lecture on chromosomes and autosomes, the gathering of them and finding the trace, the genetic link of it, the complexity of how they managed for it to be translated and written over a scroll that was to recognize it… The historical eventualities that lead for them to need this kind of thing.

She preferred the simplistic visual effect that ended the conversation. That everyone took for granted and didn't venture afterward to ask any questions.

When Naruto effectively pressed it, the little blood that he smeared over the dot spun in circles? 'Wait a minute, is that...?' Naruto wondered.

Indeed… The blood mimicked the trace of the ancient clan symbol. Simplistic enough. The surprise wasn't that resounding.

As the blood ended the outer layer of the symbol, it shined on the paper. Prevailing the mark. Naruto didn't dare presume that it meant that he was an Uzumaki, so he asked.

"What does that mean?"

"That you are indeed an Uzumaki," Shoken said, not gritting his teeth to the surprise of Kaiyō, who was honestly relieved.

Miwara picked up the scroll and took a few steps away from the group, Naruto following her, and in due time so did the rest. She seated, with the book opened in hand, motioning Naruto to sit beside her.

"Here she is Naruto, Kushina," Naruto followed Miwara's finger after she called his mother's name. When looking at the book, all he saw were names, dates of birth, family, no photos.

He read the date of birth of her mother, the 25th of July. She would have turned 38 years old this year. According to this, his grandparents’ names were Takaba Gezo and Sara Uzumaki. As he kept going down, he got to the brother and sister section, two sisters and one brother.

"Are any of them alive?" He asked, looking up from the paper. Miwara shook her head.

'Fucking great,' Naruto thought, just thanking ironically the luck filled life and past he had. So there was no close family. He grasped that many here were his relatives, but he wanted to know those directly involved with his mother. "Not even a cousin or something?" That, he said inadvertently.

"When I said ethnic cleansing, I meant it, Naruto," Kaiyō said.

"Ethnic cleansing?" Questioned Jiraiya.

"Yeah, apparently for you continentals we're another race altogether," Shoken claimed, before adding. "Rats I recall they called us as they forced us to our knees."

Jiraiya thought back on the nonsense. It's true that they had unique attributes. Life expectancy in the shinobi world didn't reach the middle-fifties mark, not by any stretch of the imagination, Uzumaki's meanwhile was in the eighties, reaching some of them a hundred years old and beyond. Ashina being an example. They were redheads mostly, pale, had larger chakra capacities, had different deities and religion, and an art of their own, meaning fūinjutsu... That didn't amount to another ethnic group. Not that there needed to be many rational judgments so that you could dehumanize those that are strangers to you.

Jiraiya turned to Miwara.

"You said that he was closely related to sunshine here," Jiraiya claimed as he pointed at Shoken.

"I said that he was more closely related than he could ever bear. Given how he's appalled by the mere idea of him being an Uzumaki, it ain't that much of a close call." Miwara stated.

"Then what is it? You sounded like there was substance here." Kaiyō wondered, happy at least that the volume decreased a bit, tired of the constant shouting.

"Well, while I may have led you to believe that they're all dead, we don't know for a fact about one of your mother's sister's Naruto. We know she managed to escape, but there's no knowledge after that. Your Aunt Onada. We heard rumors she died and that her daughter was kidnapped or escaped, but our sources weren't certain about anything." That at least meant that there was a chance. Naruto was content with that. "In regards to the link between these two. Do you want the long version or the shorter one?"

"The longer." Said Naruto instantly.

"The shorter one," Claimed Shoken, enticing Naruto's angry stare upon him. The youngling wondered if the Uzumaki had a main branch like the Hyūga, lamenting not only its existence if giving the case but that its lead had fallen to such a dickhead.

"Your great-great-grandfather is Ashina's older brother," Mawari said, looking to Shoken more than Naruto, as she claimed before, enjoying his imminent shocked face.

"Reo? My uncle Reo?" Shoken was shocked, alright. He made an effort to not show it, failing.

Jiraiya focuses his stare on Shoken too.

"How old are you man?" The Sannin questioned, baffled. Naruto was the fourth rung in the generational lineage ladder regarding this Reo guy, Ashina's brother. No more, no less. Meanwhile, Shoken was his son, meaning he was in the first step. He didn't look to be older than sixty years old.

Shoken could see how this came as a surprise. "My father had me when he was sixty-one years old. I'm the runt of a vast litter."

"You don't say?" Jiraiya said rhetorically, not daring to ask how old was the mother then. Or joking, saying how he made a family habit out of it, given that his daughter Ashina was near her twenties. This guy was contemporary to his uncle's great-great-grandson or his cousin's great-grandson.

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine.

"It's no coincidence that Kushina was sent to Konoha. Do you see it? Let's do this chronologically okay?" Naruto nodded. "This is a game of guessing who's whose nephew or niece. Or find the uncle or aunt. The prize is an armor set! I guess," Nobody was in the mode for Mawari joyous search of lighting up the atmosphere. 'So the mood is still tense I see, not my best material.'

All eyes were fixated on her. She proceeded.

"As I said, Reo was Ashina's brother. He had many sons and daughters, but we only care about two of them right now. One of them is Mito Uzumaki," Jiraiya gasped loudly, that meant… "The other is his youngest, Tora. Your great grandfather." She sped up her speech. "Then came Sara, then Kushina, and finally you."

"Wait a minute, are you saying that Mito is the daughter of Reo?" Jiraiya asked, Miwara simply nodded. "The big sister of Tora?" Miwara nodded again, looking at Jiraiya like he was some old senile. Jiraiya looked at Naruto, not flinching when seeing his angry stare. It would not go away anytime soon. "You know what that means, Naruto?"

Naruto didn't answer. Jiraiya didn't know if it was out of spite or out of doubt, he proceeded nonetheless.

"You are related to Tsunade," Jiraiya stated factually. Shocked that Tsunade's and Kushina's parents were cousins. That their family proximity was such, and mad at the brief chance that each had to talk to the other given everything that happened. Only on Mito's deathbed did they cross paths. With Tsunade immersed in her pain and self grievance, her imminent travels and efforts to remain as far as the village as she could, there was very little chance for anything else.

The blond travels internally to deal with that fact. Looking down, smiling. Holding his necklace. What a warm, life-affirming statement that was. He considered her family regardless, but this… This was great.

Immediately to his mind came their first and last encounters. The way he gained his necklace and how she earned his care and appreciation. The day of his departure.

* * *

**Back again to the day he left Konoha for his three-year training trip…**

"Ready, Naruto," Jiraiya said as he appeared out of the window with the first trace of morning light, a habit of his that had earned him a couple of scoldings from Tsunade.

A storm broke loose, Naruto cleaned himself up, made his bed, got dressed, almost going through the door. He was ready, all right. As he closed the door, he took a minute to look outside before closing it. ‘Yeah, I am ready.’ He shouted in his head.

As they walked through the village, all looks wondered at the boy and the Legendary Sannin of their village. Naruto didn't look back. In the distance, he saw the gates, and without looking he could already picture both guards out there. It seemed to talk about it without them somehow felt wrong.

He then saw different haircuts and shades of color, brown, pink, black… Then he saw them, the rest of them. His friends.

A voice stops them both.

"Planning on not saying goodbye?" Naruto turns to the voice, aware and smiling.

"Baa-chan, Shizune-nee-chan," Naruto called for them, both approaching them with a smile. There was something special in the way Naruto called their names, in it was the sadness of saying till latter and the happiness and thankfulness for them appearing in his life, all at the same time.

Tsunade groaned after hearing the appellative once again.

"Today I will let it slide..." There was no point in trying to correct him right now, she hadn't been able in the last months. Why would she think she could do it in an instant? "Naruto, you promised me something, don't you dare forget it. Don't let this pervert drive you to the creepy side. If you come back as a clone of him, I promise to beat you senseless. I will cut your balls, got it?"

"I'm not that bad. I think." Jiraiya said with a hand on his chest. Hurt.

"I will not grandma. Pervy-Sage here won't rub off on me in that." Naruto said in response, chuckling, not scared by the threats. Jiraiya was not so happy after hearing what he just said.

"Why you little? What did you call me?" Jiraiya asked, angered.

The trio of Tsunade, Naruto, and Shizune laughed at the new nickname the little blonde came up with. Tsunade held her hand up high for her little rascal and he clapped it with force.

Jiraiya cursed out loud.

Tsunade roughs up Naruto's hair, making the boy pout. Before he could protest, Tsunade hugged him motherly, leaving Naruto with no other choice than to desire to embrace her too. He felt nothing but a pleasant warmth.

Ending her embrace, they both shared a stare that didn't need words. Naruto then hugged Shizune before Tsunade called for his attention one last time, enticing him to go to talk to his friends so she could lastly talk to Jiraiya. Warning him.

When lastly looking back before proceeding, Naruto notices Tsunade smiling at him.

* * *

**Back on New Uzushiogakure...**

'Ba-chan,' Naruto succinctly said in his mind.

He could gather the strength to be angry at her too for not telling him who his parents were, but he didn't want to. She probably left that call for Jiraiya to make.

Naruto became aware of many things in such a short amount of time, one too many. The answers of a lifetime agglutinated in little more than six hours. It was taxing.

He recalled his promise to her, the promise to come back to the village, to become stronger and wiser, her using the Hokage title as motivation for him to achieve great things. He didn't need it or desire it that much, at least not compared to protecting those he cared about. That fuels him.

He had been so angry in the past hours... 'Sara, Kushina, Onada, Mito, Reo...' Those names were now imprinted in his mind. He wanted to know more about each of them.

"When did you gather all this? How?" Whispered Kaiyō in Mawari's ear.

"When all of you were bickering and nagging each other, I excused myself for a second." She whispered back.

"That quick? You were able to find all this in just a couple of minutes?" Kaiyō asked again, incredulous. Mawari nodded with a smile. "Impressive."

"How come I don't recall them, my own cousin? Mito?" Questioned Shoken, having met both Tora and Sara. "Could I take a look at it?" Shoken pleaded, hoping to be lent the book, his tone very different now.

Mawari stood up, and with no second thought gave it to him.

"It's not like we all met our cousins Shoken, you were probably too young when she departed." Said Kaiyō.

Shoken follows Mawari's index finger as she guides him through the vast ocean of information that lived in that book.

It was the truth.

Shoken put the book down.

"Now what?" Questioned one other.

That was the matter at hand.

"We all give this a chance." Kaiyō hopefully incited.

'Could I?' Thought Naruto and Shoken in unison. Looking again at each other.

"Although it is not my call and whatever I claim will do nothing but entice you to do the contrary, I am with Kaiyō." Said Jiraiya as he raised his voice, looking at Shoken. "I know my word and Konoha's means nothing to you, deservingly so, but we are not gonna tell of your position, ever. And if I'm brutally honest, we won't ever be questioned on it. You are no longer a topic in the shinobi world. We can't honor that alliance, but this is a matter of your people."

"I don't know." Shoken said with an awakening headache. "If you make a name for yourself, Naruto, in part with the teachings we share with you, the target and interest in us could rise again. I have a feeling that that will happen regardless… But you can't judge us for grudgingly trying to erase that chance." He looks above Naruto. "Those are the remains of us, Naruto. I'm entertaining the thought, I want to know more, to discover what happened to my family, I…" 'But I want to protect those that I have left.' Shoken thought.

"I want that too," Naruto claimed, hoping to know more about them too.

"Yeah." Shoken simply breathed out.

Jiraiya, Kaiyō, and Mawari looked at each other. Someone had to intervene before this impasse prolonged.

Naruto thought so too.

"I ask for your help. I ask for you to try, like the one I'm about to. You did send my mother away, but none of you partake in that decision. I'm tired of people who are not responsible, not for them to be held accountable, but for them to be seen as blameworthy of everything bad that has ever happened. Believe me, I'm a jinchūriki, so I know best what that I'm talking about." Naruto looked at Shoken. "If I do that, you have to do the same with me being a Konoha shinobi, which I warn you is not gonna change. Whether you forgive Jiraiya here is up to you, he has many explanations to give still." The members of the council nodded.

Jiraiya was left in a precarious situation, he was at fault for not telling Naruto the truth about his parents. In Konoha's lack of aid of Uzushiogakure meanwhile… He was fighting in a war too in another country, he was not in command. If he could just explain that to the lurking eyes on him.

"What?" He claimed, no pity or empathy was coming his way. "I take full responsibility for Naruto's anger towards me, it's deserved… But I was fighting in a war when the attack of Uzushiogakure happened. I did not make the calls. I'm not ubiquitous. I was in the front from July to September. If there was ever a regiment coming in your aid, mine wouldn't have been, regardless. We had our hands full."

Mawari hummed in response to the Sannin's panic defense.

"Not the more convincing excuse I've heard in my life, but it will have to do," Mawari said. "We are not gonna end this because of you." Ouch.

There was a moment of dubious chat. Things slowing down, getting settled.

A hand found its way to Naruto's shoulder minutes after. "I don't think you're in the mood for a swarm of people to relentlessly question you right now," Kaiyō said. "You both could get some rest."

"I will handle the crowd. I warn you that their questioning session is unavoidable, I will postpone it to tomorrow, we will meet here again." Shoken said.

"What are you gonna do?" Kaiyō questioned with wonder.

"Give me the scroll. The mark is still on it?" Mawari lends it to Shoken, nodding, who turns towards the crowd, uttering words that he himself didn't expect to come from his mouth. "Welcome to New Uzushiogakure, Naruto."

Shoken's begrudge was not palpable in those words, but in an afterthought. 'Let's hope we don't live to regret this.'

* * *

**Back to the present…**

'A magical place indeed' Naruto reminiscence.

"You are not a very present person, Naruto, are you?" Fū asked.

"What?" Naruto said with no conscience of what she was talking about. If he had been talked to, rather. Fū chuckled.

"Is he always like that?" She questioned, turning to Tadashi and Sora.

"We only have known him for a week, so we have a marginal sample, but yes." Said Tadashi.

"He isn't the life of the party, I will tell you that," Sora added.

"Thanks," Naruto begged to differ, he was known for actually being that. The loud one. He just had a lot on his mind. He was focused on something else. If only things were easier.

"It's alright. As of now, try to not drift when someone is talking to you." Tadashi said, poking in the wound.

"Again, thanks." Naruto said, clenching his teeth. "Sorry Fū, what were you saying."

"I was asking you if it was safe to say that Roshi won't partake in this jinchūriki initiative of yours, and Yugito's." She wondered.

"I wouldn't be so certain. I would rather strip Son Goku from Roshi and protect him separately, freeing him from that monster than fight alongside Roshi, aiding him, but that's easier said than done. Iwa has made him officially a renegade. Officially he isn't in their ranks, a publicity stunt by which they clean their reputation."A false recant. "He's still living in the land of Earth, guarded by their shinobis as far as we know. No matter what he's done, we can't let that monster fall into Akatsuki's hands."

"He's a killing psychopath, Naruto, you can't..." Fū tried to install some sense into the whole thing. She at least reached to grasp that.

"I know." Naruto didn't know better at the moment.

" **Brat." Kurama resonated with echo in Naruto's mind, something had to get into him to make him talk to Naruto.**

'What is it, Kurama?' He asked, thankful that Kurama attempted to start a conversation between them. Or that's what he wanted to think. He would be disappointed if it was otherwise.

" **Focus. Stop the group and do your sage thing."**

'Is there something wrong?'

" **I couldn't explain it to you so that you could understand."** Touch was not Kurama's thing " **You talked about trust between us, right? Trust me and do it."** Kurama was so adamant in his plea that Naruto had to give in. He nodded.

"Guys, stop!" Naruto exclaimed without shouting, just in case.

"What's happening, Naruto?" Asked the team sensei.

"Let's take a brief break while I do one thing." He subtly made a clone, putting his glasses on again so that his companion didn’t notice the sage features. Trying to perform the jutsu as imperceptibly as he could, subtly so that no one thought he had fallen on something, that he had noticed. Their pursuers, in case of this being about that.

"What's he doing?" Questioned the jōnin.

"I don't know sensei, but he has his reason, believe me," Tadashi said. "It was thanks to whatever he's doing now that we made it through the exam"

Naruto had purposely stopped near a fountain, so that it all seemed natural.

"How long is he going to take?" Questioned Kegon. Having no clue what this was either. As did the rest of Takigakure's team. Fū could sense him gathering something. It didn't feel like... Was it chakra?

She felt Chomei rise, though. Something funny was going on.

Three minutes in, Naruto opened his eyes.

'What I'm searching for, Kurama?' Naruto asked before feeling it. His gaze turned to the source of an easily noticeable and considerable amount of chakra. 'Nevermind, I've found them. They are getting closer. That signature is rare, like unnatural. Bigger than a normal jōnin.'

" **That is no coincidence, brat,"** Kurama stated with certainty. He knew that this in his gut, it just felt wrong. At this point and given who they were protecting...

'I won't bother asking you how did you know, but you're right. Could it be them, though?' Naruto wondered. 'The other one's chakra is almost average.'

Naruto fell into who he could be. 'Hidan!'

" **He fits the profile."** Like Kurama previously said, at times he paid attention.

'I will send a clone to scout. It's too soon, we are three hours away from the meeting point.' Naruto thought. 'Who's the other?'

" **Go look into it. Send a message through one of those stupid toads to that sensei of yours."** Wisely advised the bijū.

'You're right. Thank you, Kurama'

" **I didn't do it for you brat."**

Naruto didn't care, he had other things at hand.

He made two clones and sent them separately to the possible enemy position. Summoning after a little size toad and briefing him on a message that he was to give urgently to Jiraiya.

"Mind briefing us too, Naruto," The jōnin said.

Naruto stood up once the toad disappeared.

"Someone is in our tails, at this point they're clearly following us. Given the situation, it's a safe bet to say that they're Akatsuki." Naruto said.

"What?" What kind of person just blurts out that out of the blue. Kegon didn't believe they were ready to face S-Rank shinobis. "What leads you to believe that? How could they have tracked and reached us so fast? It has only been a day, and we have been in the running too. "If they were here, they were pursuing Fū. Kegon's mission was clear.

"Sunagakure is full of leaks, they might have somehow found out about you coming here." Naruto had to warn Jiraiya in important detail, he and the crew of Suna's traitors were not the only ones looking from the distance at Neji saving both Fu and Gaara. There was a very particular village team lurking with suspicious care to not be caught. "I think it's wise to get ready for the worst. They're an hour away at that pace, it's imperative we elude contact until we reach the Land of Fire." 'You better hurry, Ero-Sennin.' Jiraiya alone could probably beat them. With a Sannin, three jōnin, and practically four chunin they could beat them and elude casualties… Without Jiraiya, things were going to turn for the worst.

They all grew scared, they had reasons to. Some felt their throats tighten up, their voices tremble as they jokingly disregarded the chance, their heartbeats accelerated, they started sweating more… This seems to emanate out of a terror tale for many of them, having not faced an enemy of this magnitude in their lifetimes, nowhere close. Wanting to elude the mere chance.

"Let's move people!"

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. First Contact

"What a fucking bizarre hierarchy. I swear to you that I have no clue about who's cues we are fucking following." A voice asserted, jumping along the forest at a steadfast pace. Striding fast enough to reach their target. Yet not incredibly so for it to not be draining, were they to face them worn out, with no remaining strength. Dying at the hands of their impatience and recklessness. "Who ordered to catch this girl again?"

The red clouds in his attire constricting the guessing of his persona to a shortlist. His long grey hair, his madness… The Yugakure protector on his neck. That weapon. A uniquely designed scythe with three curving blades that resembled most an agriculture tool than anything else. Its purpose disturbed, transformed from the mowing of grass to that of flesh and bone, not preventing life from growing but from existing at all.

All that distinctiveness amounted to be easily discerned and called out with undoubted certainty.

"Do you actually care?"

Alongside the previously described shinobi was a tall figure. Had you to define him upon first look, phrasing on a single premise, a defining characteristic of that first contact, and you could only point out how fathomless he seemed to be. Given what he showcased. Given how little, rather.

Undecipherable because you could see nothing beyond those unwonted eyes. Green irises deprived of pupils, surrounded by that light red sclerae. His attire covering everything else.

His village? Takigakure, as shown in his cut protector. Fū's and her two companions' village also.

"I do, actually," Hidan said, frustrated to no avail. Kakuzu looked at him in disbelief, as much disbelief as he could show, raising his eyebrow. "I already told you when you guys asked me to join, I don't care about this project of yours. You care about the money and all I care for is to please Jashin by obeying his primal wish, to kill. For as much as I hate your side jobs, at least I can kill in most of them. Fuck me! I was promised protection and freedom while I kept doing so till Konan said we were to take action," Hidan got out of bed on the wrong side, apparently "So I do wanna know under whose call I'm to disobey Jansin's commandments so suddenly."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. Their assignment together obeyed various lines of reasoning. One blatant and obvious was their particular common condition. He was on the verge of regretting not calling for another partner.

Exempt Deidara, all seemed better options. "Again with your church and your belief? You can't fathom to understand how irksome you are." Wanting too to deviate Hidan from the answer he sought to find.

"Total slaughter is the motto of the church of Jansin. There's even an actual commandment that prohibits half-killing, I'm committing heresy here by leaving these jinchūrikis alive. Taking that to consideration, I think I'm not asking for too much." Hidan said as he tried to find his footing.

'Nutjob' Thought Kakuzu.

"And it ain't like you shut your trap about money either," Hidan said before mockingly adding. "Money this, money that..."

One side tracked minds could be their fitting motto.

"Money is something you can realistically have faith in, a universal language and desire," Kakuzu added. "With your faith, we can't even galvanize a single man to do as we please. They've never heard of your so-called God. And hearing about his killing demands won't help either." Hidan's rage upon the mockery of the true God in his eyes was blatant, clearly shown in his countenance. "Money meanwhile can speak to one's soul. With these bounties we are gathering, we could organize a cue somewhere, turn a village's focus to what we want upon an offer, and their poverty of chances. Hire assassins to hit strategic points."

Not that he lose sleep over achieving any of that. His care like pointed out being beyond Akatsuki's primary plan, beyond their wishes.

As long as Kakuzu kept a sizable chunk of all that money earned in this endeavour, he was a happy and loyal man.

"Why hire someone for doing something that I fervently want to do myself?" Hidan queried, baffled by the chance of paying for such atrocious service.

"Because you ain't omnipresent Hidan and our goals reach beyond the five grand villas. Surpassing the ground you can cover," Kakuzu hoped that the man child lunatic besides him at least could grasp that.

"Whatever, let's reach this girl and be done with this so we can go back into killing," Hidan directly added.

Kakuzu at least was complacent, giving the fact that he had deterred Hidan from furthering questions about Madara's orders.

They had long lost the clear track of footsteps of the party they were pursuing on the main road towards the Fire Country. Having to rely on the imprecise intuition and sporadic clues they encountered instead.

They departed a few hours after them, so they had catching up to do.

Their prey knew they were being followed. Both Kakuzu and Hidan understood that.

Furthermore, Kakuzu, being from the Village Hidden by a Waterfall himself, knew of some ineludible roads where they were bound to catch a trail or even face them, yet he wanted to confront them sooner rather than later.

The tree line cleared, free from the forest short-range visual reach, where only tree branches and occasional tracks mark the path to take; in the clearing, Kakuzu raised his hand in order for Hidan to stop.

Before them, three trails of footings deviated from the path carved in the middle.

"This was long in the making". Thought out loud Kakuzu. It was a basic shinobi strategy. He was expecting it. The decision matters given the wide space between each of the paths taken.

Now he was judging which route to follow. They were getting closer.

"Which one is it?" Hidan asked impatiently. When he saw Kakuzu march towards the left without uttering a word, he had to ask once again. "Are you guessing or you genuinely know?"

Kakuzu turned to him and pointed at each distinct trail.

"There aren't two routes that divert here." He pointed to the right. "Whatever that path leads to reroutes from the valley into the mountain formation there. It's a pointless delay. These tracks are single file, purposely done to hide their numbers." He got on one knee beside the steps. "But it's a futile effort. With the humidity, you can see the footsteps distinctly. Look at them."

Hidan obliged to Kakuzu's request and shortly after, once he had taken a peek, he raised his head and pointed the obvious. "They're different". Kakuzu nodded. Hidan, not pleased or convinced, looked at the other trail. They didn't separate from a common point, so he had to walk a few seconds to reach it. "These steps aren't the same either".

"A very meticulous and capable transformation jutsu," 'subtle,' Kakuzu added in the back of his mind. "They have let little traceable evidence through their path. Notwithstanding, had I to bet which one it is, 9 out of 10 times I will pick this one," Kakuzu claimed with certainty as he started following the single filed path.

"If you say so" Hidan had to relegate on this, it wasn't his area of expertise. "Couldn't it be from a civilian crew or another squad?"

"Don't think so. Come on," Kakuzu hurried as he walked into the vast forest again, gradually looking down so he could follow those footsteps. As soon as Hidan reached his side, Kakuzu briefed him on their imminent situation. "We should be able to find them regardless before the Odo lake. They are almost obliged to go through that part. There is a Konoha outpost nearby, so either we engage before it or after. Am I clear?"

Hidan didn't answer. Kakuzu was not the boss of him.

"You don't want the entire village in our pursuit, Hidan," He cleared, just in case. "It would be bothersome."

Hidan again remained silent, although one could imagine him saying that it was for the better if they were being pursued, more chances to kill.

They, shortly after, ventured into the lush vegetation of Suna's frontier forest. Here the light glimmers, dots of it rarely showcased in the floor as some nifty sunbeams dodge the upper branch leaves.

These sorts of environments are tricky, requiring those who venture in them to be adroit. Quick thinking and reflexes being key if you were to leave unharmed. Thankfully, both Hidan and Kakuzu were beyond the simple care of a wound.

Hidan trailed Kakuzu as he progressed, periodically stopping for clues to their path. The maniac was not known for his patience. They better had some action soon or he wouldn't know what to do with himself. He pleaded for something to happen amidst this present boredom.

If he was forced to hear once more the word money or any theme revolving around Akatsuki's prospective plans, he would perform his ritual with Kakuzu himself. He wanted nothing more than to spread the way of his deity with him.

Akatsuki had so far been truthful to their word. Not a week had gone by without someone not uttering a single further breath in Jashin's name. Killing under their protection, eluding the faith of being held in a cell for eternity…

His problem resembles that of Kakuzu, had Hidan not been paired with the ancient banker and he could confess feelings fully plead with this arrangement.

The man dared ridicule Jashin, characterizing him as weird and nonsensical, a sin that could not be forgiven. A sin that he relapsed time and time again. Continuing with his heresy.

Hidan himself committed the latest by not having already killed that unbeliever, by not eroding his existence in the spot.

Back to what he was promised. The prospect of war was tantalizing. Numbers while attractive in his mind were tedious in practice, doing the ritual and saying his prayers for each corpse… If he killed as many as he desired, he would do those nonstop.

Hidan senses, while not exactly enhanced, caught something. The melodic sound of a tree branch breaking under the presumption footing of his soon to be next offering.

He full-heartedly smiled.

Jashin didn't leave his prayers unheard. Once again proving the foolishness of the surrounding unfaithfulness.

"You heard that?" Hidan claimed with a smile. The anxiousness… Adrenaline rushing in.

Kakuzu had to be called twice. He was so obdurate in following the trail, that once he suddenly lost it, he couldn't but focus his senses in erasing the chance of becoming lost. This was his call, after all.

He didn't find any clues.

The one thing he did notice was a permanent whistle that didn't fade. Turning to Hidan, he suddenly realized that it was him trying to grab a hold of his attention.

"What?" Kakuzu asked. Hidan's previous words were indistinguishable.

His surprise rose when he saw Hidan suddenly crouching.

"What Hidan?" He asked more quietly, more carefully.

Hidan brought his hand to his ear, motioning Kakuzu to focus his efforts in becoming aware of the sound that reigned amidst the flapping of the branches to the winds' will and crave.

Two distinct sounds emanated from two separate places, the sound of a tree branch breaking permeated the atmosphere.

"Did you hear that?" Hidan said as he slowly unveiled his scythe, increasing his smile as each inch of the weapon was freed from the constriction of peace and tranquility.

Kakuzu nodded, shushing the impatient Hidan by raising his finger. To no avail, as his partner was just trying to steal a glance at his prey.

Silence prevailed anew. Looking down, in the undergrowth, movement.

The limbs of the vegetation below their position danced.

Kakuzu's chest rose as he took a big lump of air. Just as he was about to attack, a bunny came out, for Hidan's angst and lament and Kakuzu's rest.

Brief rest for he realized something. 'There are no giant rabbits outside Aokigahara's forest' in the Land of the Waterfall where he was born.

No afterthought could be constructed as a set of explosive kunais aimed at the branches they were resting upon, efficiently hit their target.

"Hidan, jump!" Kakuzu warned.

They both had to lunge forward with power, managing to put enough distance between the explosion and themselves for only some shrapnel to caress their coats.

Kakuzu tries to look back but just as he did he had to duck as one kunai went past him, inches away from his face. The reflexes of an old warrior.

He heard the cursing of his partner. As he gradually turned, after glimpsing some kunais on the floor, those that Hidan ought to have deflected, he caught sight of what he had to bitch about.

A sizable hole right below his clavicle.

The weapon has gone across his entire body.

Kakuzu stood up, ready to counterattack. Only catching small shadows, different tonalities that quickly flew by in his eyesight.

He would not play his enemy's game. Rather than going into the defensive and wondering about their numbers, he turned the tide with a simple move.

He and Hidan lack any semblance of rapport or chemistry, yet Hidan this time, preconceiving his move, jumped before him. Not strictly so, therefore eluding downgrading the impact of his technique.

'Don't rush Hidan' Kakuzu suggested silently.

Gathering air and expanding his lungs, compressing a high density of it...

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage."

A powerful and concise storm occurred. Striking everything before Kakuzu, clearing their surrounding landscape with that blast. Sweeping even some trees off their roots.

Hidan ran, propelled by the gust of wind behind him. Upon hearing a cry when the technique hit, he thought whoever it was would be before him, hit and trembling. With the line of sight cleared, he or she ought to be visible by now.

No life was in his immediate zone. They couldn't have recovered that quickly or elude it, given its reach.

Turning after mowing the destroyed landscape in frustration, hitting the ground with his scythe, he saw that indistinguishable figure, that shadow, again running away.

Hidan went in pursuit.

"Hidan wait!" Kakuzu screamed, convinced that that course of action was unwise. It wasn't like Hidan was in danger of being killed, but he followed, not seeing anything from his current position.

Hidan ran after the figure as he seemed to be meandering, only quickly. In a zig-zag, appearing in his sight as he ran straight through a small path. He was getting closer.

The light didn't glimmer so much ahead, there seemed to be a clearing. Whoever was the poor fool to confront them had no escape now.

He lunged with increased speed, a blur appearing before him. Aiming and shouting, with bloodshot in his eyes.

"Argh!"

He didn't hit but air.

He was on the frontier with a small clearing amidst the forest. Kakuzu trailed him by a relative distance. Hidan couldn't hear his warning cry.

A kick found its way to the back of Hidan's head, throwing him far away, tumbling forcefully in the process. Reaching irksome postures. Like his bent head being the only thing in contact with the floor.

He was hit hard.

Kakuzu caught sight of their enemy, a small shinobi with glasses. More aware and precise, he approximated his target enough to have a dead aim when he extended unnaturally his entire arm, going through the soon to be corpse. Hurling him to the trunk behind him.

When he approached, rather later than expected, the body disappeared.

"A clone?" He wondered with doubt. Clones disappear sooner than that upon damage.

He scanned the area soon invaded by Hidan's cries.

"That hurt bastard, show yourself," Hidan uttered as he stood up.

'I'm not so easily surprised', Kakuzu confidently stated as he turned to hit whatever was incoming. He was sneaky, but not enough for him. Seeing the brown boy haired boy come head on towards him? A boy?... Head on? Kakuzu ready one of his jutsu, but before he could do any hand sign another clone appeared out of nowhere near his feet, with a kick forcing him to lose control, any semblance of balance.

The one who Kakuzu initially saw punched him in mid-air.

Hidan was about to rush once he saw the action, but running in the direction he found himself incapable of throwing his scythe, where he to hit Kakuzu and his weapon got stuck in his body.

The two clones jumped high enough to not be reachable by the mere extension of Hidan's weapon. One of the two grabbed the other and flipped in mid-air, throwing the other far beyond, to the point where the boy covered the sun itself.

He threw a bunch of kunais from his position, just above Hidan, before uttering.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu" Those weapons multiplied at a ridiculous rate.

No sunlight could be seen as the rain of steel hovering over Hidan eroded it. The immortal could do nothing more than to brace himself as no quick reaction could save him.

Kakuzu analytic mind went to work, having frankly no knowledge of Hidan's condition and how he could sustain that much damage, the fact that he could not be killed by it didn't mean that he could not be temporarily crippled or be impeded from moving, becoming a liability for the pursue.

He had to act. He performed the one jutsu that from this distance he quickly realized could help, one of the most commonly known.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough". From Kakuzu's mouth a gust of wind, a vortex, was formed, aimed above Hidan. Hitting all in the vicinity in front of him.

What he failed to grasp by the pressure to act in a hurry is that this technique was not accurate and that it would indeed end up hitting Hidan. Not only that, but he performed it late.

Few kunais struck Hidan. In a fraction of a second they punctured his bracing upward arms. Those who were in between him and Kakuzu, to Hidan's left, passing him by inaccurately, carried by the stream of wind of Kakuzu's technique, went right through Hidan with velocity, tearing flesh and muscle.

The fewer of both evils. While Kakuzu deflected those above Hidan, he propelled those to Hidan's right, helping them blast him.

Unbeknownst to Kakuzu, the same words were uttered behind him as someone performed the same technique.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough".

Kakuzu was not fast enough to throw a hand to grab a hold of something on the floor, being thrown in the air towards Hidan, passing him by.

Hitting him with the leg in the chest as Hidan somehow stood.

'How's he still moving' Wondered the attacker. 'He can't be truly immortal, can he?' He proceeds with his relentless and meticulous attack. They were in position. He just needed time.

Kakuzu was bruised, nothing he hadn't suffered before. This was not about to stop him. None of his hearts were destroyed.

As he lifted himself from the floor with his arms, he looked sideways to Hidan as he tried to do the same.

Hidan was in terrible shape. He had more cuts than he could count. The caudal of blood that streamed down the wounds was not fitting for one of his injuries. It was ephemeral. Near his eye a gruesome cut shows all the internal organic features from his eye to the back of his head, cutting his ear in half.

Kakuzu even caught glimpses of white in Hidan's body. The former shinobi of the Yugakure and last added member of the Akatsuki was deathless. Not that Kakuzu understood how it worked, but Hidan did indeed feel pain to his present dismay.

He secreted Substance P. He didn't suffer from congenital insensitivity.

Not even Kakuzu himself had experienced such amounts of pain.

Hidan screamed obstreperously, acutely, and severely. Rising with tears pouring down his eyes. He ought to have fallen unconscious by now from the pain. No thirst for blood should be able to keep him on his feet.

"I'm going to dismember you slowly as I kill you", Hidan said, in between his teeth. Even drooling in ire. He seemed to have rabies.

They didn't have time to do much more; they were moving too slow. Their confidence and lack of fear were proving to be their downfall.

From the ground, Kakuzu saw four copies of this brown-haired, white-dressed boy surrounding them. Performing the same hand signs ones again.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough" The four mentioned at the same time

As the wind technique impacted them, for a brief moment they had problems breathing. The simple act of standing up had to be postponed for the vitality of fighting to breathe in this decreased pressure, like in high altitudes.

You see, outside of the fact of not being accustomed to such phenom, to airs of that velocity to hit you, when you breathe you are opening your lungs and creating a lower pressure area within your body. An area that is quickly filled by the mentioned air. When the pressure outside is decreased, it doesn't hurry as much, making breathing feel excruciating, like a fight for a mere mouthful. The faster the air moves, the lower its pressure, and this technique was infused with enough chakra to make it unbearable.

Hidan looked down, trying to shield himself by hiding his face in between his shoulder and his knees, curled up in desperation and angst.

Soon enough, the circling of the winds as they converted formed a tornado. Then being in the eye, with the debris rising around them. The temperatures lowering.

They couldn't sustain much more here. The breathing problem persevered. Kakuzu was waterboard before, this didn't lack behind in the amount of fear that it caused to rise, to surge.

Kakuzu couldn't do more than try to free one of his masks, but found himself unable to. His brain was not in the set to be greatly clever.

In desperation he crawled next to Hidan and once again performed what he had tried before, hoping to do better this time.

Create shelter. His mind didn't go anywhere beyond that.

He silently utters his technique after his hand signs.

"Earth Style: Mud Refuge". Out of Kakuzu's mouth purred a stream of mud that expanded and quickly after risen and sheltered them by closing its two rising sides.

Giving them a break.

Soon enough, the small tornado disappeared as the technique faded. Kakuzu had spasms, a convulsion. The lack of oxygen and the damage led to one of his hearts to perish.

He coughed blood. He had still many left. It hadn't been since the "leader" of the Akatsuki beat him that he lost a single one.

"Up Hidan" Kakuzu urged, painting.

He didn't need to say that twice. The gruesome remaining figure that was Hidan got on one knee, waiting for Kakuzu to undo this unpleasant but useful thing.

A strange trace of light shone under the structure, and neither Hidan nor Kakuzu saw it.

"Ready?" Kakuzu said. They weren't allowed to be that slow again if they wanted to end this. As soon as he opens it they have to move.

Hidan didn't respond.

The blood-seeking figure's eyes opened and enlarged to a comical degree. His displease somehow increased after that beating...

"I can't", stressed a baffled Hidan.

Kakuzu felt it too. He couldn't rise either. 'What the hell is going on'. As soon as he didn't supply chakra to the mud structure, it crumbled, falling on them, going down their clothes. Covering them.

He could not move a muscle. Only his eyes. A seal shined on the floor with five deviations to each of the kneeling clones. All exhausted, panting themselves. Sweating.

Kakuzu could barely move his head to see clearly who was responsible for this attack. This planned attack. He would gather the honest avowal to call it masterful had he not suffered so much because of it. He didn't have a sense of the time that it all lasted.

Hidan meanwhile could see a clone perfectly. It couldn't be a child! It simply couldn't. His state of mind was… This seal could only hold him for so long.

Indeed. A minute in and Kakuzu could move his head up. Pride would not be his downfall, never cared for that stuff, yet something inside him cringed when he confirmed what he previously saw. He was 90 years old. He had seen some of the greatest shinobi level battlefields, installing fear in those they faced. He saw Hanzō of the Salamander in action; he saw the previous raikages and their armors, and faced Hashirama, the God of Shinobi.

But all of them were grown men, and he would have given them a run for their money. Of all the opponents he had, he never expected a weird-looking, google wearing child to even cause a scratch on him. Lay even a hand.

Shisui and Itachi Uchiha, Mū, Uburo Tamane, were feared names at the age this boy ought to be, but they were rare occurrences that he didn't face. To be, so far, outmatched by a fucking brat...

Hidan cursed out loud, time and time again for the headache of his partner. Any ill sounding word you could imagine was shouted out.

'That's the Uzumaki touch for you, fucking monsters', thought mentioned child.

* * *

This time it was Naruto, the one on his knees, tired and bruised.

"All right Naruto, do I have to ask you again what the principles of Fuinjutsu are?" Miwara asked with a teasing tone, a knowing smile.

Naruto shook his head, grinning, catching his breath.

"Good, it will be disgraceful this far in the training for you to have complete ignorance," Shoken mentioned as he stepped forward. "Now, what we are about to instruct you in is one of the more intricately simple techniques you will learn," Wait, what? "One of our basic, widely spread techniques. Few foes can escape its wrap, none immediately."

"Like a sealing barrier?" Naruto queried, he heard of those in the academy.

"It's exactly that. Only that with an Uzumaki's touch". Miwara remarked as she and Shoken arranged everything. Summoning out of scrolls weird... Rocks? Something of short. Five of them, each in a unique position. "One more potent you could say."

"It's one of many techniques of this type. Naruto." Shoken stated for the boy's knowledge.

"Why the rocks?" Asked Naruto.

"These are not rocks. These are tools just like the scrolls or some instruments could become if designed right. This is a helpful tool for you to learn and to make things simpler. Further in your training, you won't need them." Miwara gesticulated wildly as she explained. "I don't know how to explain it best."

"Leave it for later, how about we show you what it does?" Disrupted Shoken. Anxious to see the brat response to the first level of this technique. Laughing at the idea of whom they were gonna test it to.

"What is it called?"

"Kensho Seal: Pentagon Formation."

* * *

Kakuzu saw the clones trembling in tension, like every fiber in their body was in the break of tearing. The demand of this technique in a child's body… It was a matter of time. Wanting to speed up things, Kakuzu gathers chakra and tries to stand. Not only did he fail again, but in between this effort and the previous one to simply raise his head, he felt depleted.

A jailor's proper technique, that not only restricted movement but depleted the opposition chakra the most effort he made to free himself from it.

A technique bequeathed from an ancient time of war, designed to hold entire areas, levering the battlefield to the Uzumaki's exploit.

This was just a beginner's step. A small glimpse at this technique potential.

Kakuzu and Hidan seethe, months with no one so much as posing any kind of opposition to their killing and bounty hunting spree, and right now a sixth clone was walking towards them without a scratch on him. Be it a clone, be it whatever you want.

Inexcusable.

The only striding figure in the field took his time to approach. Kakuzu only looked at Hidan once, whispering to his companion to not get hasty.

He was 10 feet and counting down. Walking in a path carved by both Kakuzu's and Naruto's wind technique.

Kakuzu had to delay him.

Hidan had already attempted to stand, notwithstanding the fact that he had already felt the repercussions of doing so. He attempted it once again. There was an invisible line in his mind, marked by the point where this boy was within range of his scythe, as soon as Naruto crossed it, automatize, Hidan dared to hit him with it, holding with his left the bottom, double tucking the start of the leash as he was ready to lunge the rest of it.

His efforts were pointless, when moving his arms and his torso to gather the strength to reach the boy, by the draining effect of the sealing jutsu, the result was Hidan on the floor and his weapon barely reaching beyond the circle they were held in.

Naruto imposingly closed the distance. Height apart, there was an imposing factor to his presence. Drawing a kunai with an explosion tag from his holster, when close enough, he threw it infused with his wind affinity.

Neither Kakuzu nor Hidan dared closing their eyes, looking at Naruto's glasses. Not drawing back any longer.

They didn't have to, for the kunai's aim was not them. But the long metal cable that connected the blades of the weapon to the two spools on Hidan's hip.

Hidan was about to laugh maniacally, given how his cable was strong enough to deflect a simple kunai, he had to stifle it as the kunai parted it in too. Not even needing the explosion to be cut.

The rubble from the tag hit both of them straight in their overwhelmed faces. The mere movement as they braced themselves drained more chakra altogether.

"Bastard!" Claimed Hidan enraged.

'Say goodbye to your middle range', Claimed Naruto. He was not equated with predominantly Bukijutsu users, those who solely relied on weapons, but this seems like the course of action to follow, as soon as he saw the cable, the prospect of this specimen wielding it or throwing that thing to someone of the team, was one chance to erase.

Even more so taking in account the reports. He still couldn't believe that he was indeed immortal.

Did he regenerate? What were his weaknesses? Naruto didn't know the answers to the emerging question in his head.

Fuinjutsu was a bitch. The Hyuga could stop the chakra flow of somebody, a fuinjutsu designed piece of clothing could seal the Byakugan or the Sharingan. Naruto was miles away from being able to do things like that. Right now he couldn't hold this jutsu for a single minute more. Good thing that he had done more than he had planned beforehand, way beyond the simple goal of winning time.

"You really are immortal?" Naruto asked out loud. Kakuzu wondered if this boy was stupid. He was not trembling, his hands were steady and so was the tone in his voice. He would be wise to fear.

'What is that thing that popped out of his back?' Naruto wondered as he saw the broken clothes of Kakuzu after something bursted out.

Naruto took advantage of the fact that they couldn't move to circle them and look at Kakuzu's back.

"And you're just another clone," Kakuzu stated rather than queried. "So much effort and planning for so little".

Naruto didn't catch Hidan's eyes. His tone was menacing and crazy enough. He was more focused on a mask on the Akatsuki's member's back. He didn't have enough info of who neither were nor their abilities, chiefly Kakuzu's.

"When I reach you, I will enjoy killing you, showing you all the fear that Jashin can impose in your pathetic soul as you plead for someone to rescue as all that remains of you is your dismembered head and torso," Hidan threateningly proclaimed.

Naruto saw Kakuzu's insides move, threads in his left arm lurked. Naruto warned.

"I would not do that if I were you."

"You don't have long boy", Kakuzu said as one clone holding the seal fell to his ass, the seal losing its composure steadily. "You're time is dwindling"

Kakuzu managed for one of his arms to extend, lunging it at the clone.

"I've gained enough". Said Naruto. Out of his palmed shined chakra in an incredulous amount, spinning.

Kakuzu turned towards him, heading straight for him, Naruto was faster.

"Odama Rasengan".

The immediate area was destroyed, and both Kakuzu and Hidan were caught in the blast.

All the clones disappeared.

* * *

The persecuted had been moving non stop since Naruto's warning. When faced with the prospect of facing the Akatsuki, running and eluding them seem a better option.

They were in formation, with Fū in the center. Both her village's partners on each side. With the remaining Jonin, Shimogakure's, in the tail, covering their backs. Tadashi and Sora were leading and Naruto was just behind them, Fū having the misfortune or pleasure, we leave that to her personal taste and desires, of Naruto's ass being the predominant view for the last miles.

Their unyielding effort to put distance in between had to stop as Naruto didn't lunge with precision, suddenly losing consciousness. Falling to his death from that height.

"Naruto!" Shouted Yōrō.

Wuh-PSSSH! A whip resounded. Sora's tool.

He was nimble in his attempt to save Naruto. As the whip wraps around Naruto's leg, the blonde is left hanging. Sora was holding on for dear life in the tree.

"What..." Weakly mouthed Naruto as his eyes opened, becoming shocked as he looked down to the ground, to his fall. "Oh, fuck!"

His sudden reflexive movement didn't help Sora, who unfortunately didn't have room to operate. He was on the verge of falling himself.

"Tadashi!" Sora said as, his tonality rising with fear as one of his feet lost touch with the tree.

His partner responded to his call, grabbing him by the back of his attire.

"Got you!" Exclaimed Tadashi, relieved.

Just in case, their sensei was already on the ground, ready to catch the falling Naruto.

They all gave in to gravity and fell to the ground, although with controlled ability. They surrounded Naruto.

His transformation had faded.

Before them was the real him, physically. Pacing his breath, he took out the googles, having grown tired and uncomfortable with them.

"Thanks", Naruto honestly added, not feeling strong enough yet to raise his sight.

"What happened?" Asked Tadashi, it was the first time in the whole mission that he had seen Naruto like this.

Rather than answering, Naruto tries to get up. Fū's hand obstructing his effort for his sake. He had to rest.

"We have to move", Claimed Naruto with urgency. Repeating that claim three times more, each louder than the previous. His teammates were yet to obey or react accordingly.

"Naruto take a moment", advised Sora as he

"I'm fine, it's just the clones' dispersion that shock me a bit." Proving how stubborn and unflagging in his effort to move he was, he stood up. "Believe me. We have to move, now!"

"What happened?" They asked again.

"I've engaged them. I took them by surprise, gaining a few minutes. Come on!" As he said that, he jumped, taking the lead, hoping that by doing so they would be obliged to follow.

Naruto felt groggy, blinking repeatedly. Suddenly he was aching, making exaggerated movements. 'Have to keep moving...'

"I will brief you on the move, you're gonna have a hard time believing this," Naruto emphasized as he tried to regain his full self. He had to keep the eyes of the road. Without turning he exclaimed. "We have to hurry and find Jiraiya. Fū, Kegon, Yōrō, I have something to ask you."

* * *

Somewhere in the Land of Fire, in a little town near the Keiryū river, in a small stand, was an old man reading a letter from his beloved. Taking a break, sipping sake to alleviate stress.

Beloved chief in command rather than a meaningful other, his betrothed if you want. Not that he didn't hope for that to be, even after all these years.

Naruto asked him once about her. He recalled the conversation perfectly.

* * *

"What are you thinking?" Jiraiya asked the crestfallen Naruto? His demeanor seems that way. "Don't go quiet on me, I already trained your father, he was more the quiet and thinking type, not saying you don't have that side, but you are more fun. If you go into a silent, rather jackass than cool, moody mood we will get bored out of our minds. You have been like this since yesterday. Another unpleasant realization in one of your reads?"

"No," There was a long gap in between his words, something ought to happen. "I'm thinking of her, you know?" Oh.

Inadvertently, Naruto asked Jiraiya something he wanted to talk to him about for a long time. "Pervy-Sage, will you ever tell me the history between you and Tsunade?"

Jiraiya looked at the boy, confused.

"Why do you frame it like that? Like I was never gonna tell you of it?"

"Dunno, you seem to keep that inside, I guess," Naruto added before presuming, projecting, "Seems like something hard to talk about."

Jiraiya hummed. Looking back at their past. He didn't share it just because he thought there was not much to discuss in the matter. He responded because he knew where all was coming from. Having grown acquainted with how some things repeat in history, he could see Naruto wondering if his case with Sakura resembles that of his own with the current Hokage in any shape or form.

The case was that it didn't. Not nor needing to be. Not only were they both young, but the situation they were born into, while darkening, wasn't theirs.

Life ain't a recurrent script, an endless loop, that only has distinct faces, characters, yet similar stories and endings altogether.

The shinobi world may, but not necessarily the personal relations of those who inhabited it.

Jiraiya was upfront with Naruto. It was quite a plain story.

"It's not as complex as you might think. Boy, parentless since the age of 4, meets a girl at a very young age when they were put in the same team. Five minutes into their meeting and he was already punched miles away." Jiraiya said before crouching down and whispering to Naruto. "I will bulge and confess that I deserved that one."

Naruto smiled. Saddened by the fact he spoke of it in third person, like he was talking about a distant person, a distant set of emotions. Feeling like Jiraiya was hiding.

"At first such boy was amused by her, enticed to tease her. By misfortune, his recklessness transports him far away, distancing himself periodically from both his teammates, therefore her. Whatever crush he had developed in the brief time they shared only grew to a sense of attraction by the will of his imagination, for they didn't share much time to develop anything else. While partners, distance seems to be present during most of the time."

Naruto could bet that Jiraiya had written something about this, or at least lived a happy scenario of it through some of his characters' stories.

"The time they shared revolved around training, around war. He knew of her will and future desire, but not so much of her personal likes. Who she was. They fought together, bled together. They face things you could not fathom and survive them together. Amidst all that, be it his need for company, for someone… Be it what it may, those romantic sentiments turn to her. Unaccompanied by the guts to act upon them. Of presenting himself for what he really was. To be exposed. He likes to think it was because he was not sure if it was Tsunade with whom he wanted to take that step. I still don't know. There was fear of truly being rejected and complete ignorance of how to make it work if she accepted. For he only spent at most a week in the village every two months. What was he willing to give up in the name of that new frontier of possibilities?

I didn't have to face that, tough. Given that the hope for her having romantic feelings for me seemed hopeless and non-existent. Like I said, we didn't have time to search for such feelings. Or at least I didn't. With conflict after conflict, hard training and obligations, time flew by. When I bothered to look her way with the same eyes as I once did as a child, she was already fully in love with another man. I saw them talk and his ability to effortlessly make her smile, be at ease in a time where none of us were. I wanted to understand, wanted to feel happiness for her, yet couldn't. Like a child I marched towards him, ignorant of what I was going to say or do. Confronted him as if I had any right only for him to meet my stupidness with patience and a non judgmental kindness. At the end, I wanted to put distance between us so I could not feel the way I did and followed such an aim. By the time the war went by, she lost both. Him and her most precious person, his little brother, Nawaki.

Independently of my desire to remain by her side if needed, she just decided that this village had cost her too much and went as far from any imagery that could lead her to think of both of them as she was capable of. That was till you brought her back."

"This necklace, it was Nawaki's?" Naruto asked, fully aware of the answer.

"Yeah.. What you're wearing is not not economically priceless for being a chakra crystal, carved and made by the First Hokage; no, it's emotionally priceless because it rested upon the necks of the people she holds most dear. With it, you carry their dreams and aspirations. Both wanted to be Hokage, that's why she was reluctant to hear it once again. Why she call it..." Jiraiya couldn't end that sentence.

"A fool's dream," for his student did it for him.

"A fairy tale," Jiraiya said after taking a big breath. "She never wanted to be Hokage. She wanted that dream for Dan to live and lead. His ideals and his charisma were the position's requirement in her eyes. For her, the Senju had paid enough for the war. Her father didn't want that weight for himself, nor did her mother for her. Yet now she carries the position with courage at the verge of new and darker times."

No wonder Jiraiya could write with those everlasting stories happening all around him. As they continue with their route, Jiraiya looks up.

"At times I wonder if it's love. I know that while women have quite the effect on me, her… Either is different or I've convinced myself out of some emotional need that it is. I don't know," He paused. "I'm not a stationary guy. Always sleeping in the same place, laying next to the same person. Having shared habits and a regular schedule… It ain't me and probably ain't her either. I could hope that I made the effort for the chance of having something with her was the chance to occur." Was he to seek it out, rather. 'For some things the ship has already sailed, sadly.'

Naruto hoped for his sensei to make the effort. He deserved happiness. Be it that Tsunade felt somewhat the same and wanted to give it a try too. He liked that scenario.

* * *

'It's good that in that regard you're probably wiser than me' Thought the elder. Given their age difference, it was more pointed flaw about him than a compliment to the gaki.

Jiraiya was waiting for his student and the delegation he was guarding. To be precise he was two hours away from the meeting point. This stall where he was resting was nearby one of the many outposts that Konoha had in its southwest frontier.

This was the last one before the Odo lake. He was to meet Naruto as soon as he passed it.

He had time to spare. After the Shiraki debacle… It was the first time that his student didn't fill him in during these last months of reporting. It was very strange. One could point out the last chat they had as the motive, but Jiraiya knew better. Shiraki is not one to give up easily or turn unprofessional after being berated. Not that Jiraiya seeked for that last part to happen.

He couldn't do anything about it. Shiraki not showing up had left a hole in his schedule. One he to take advantage of to get up to speed with his unread letters. Starting with the most recent one, Tsunade's.

He swiftly devoured it. He was a quick reader. An occupational hazard. Being always on the fly, reading in order to get inspiration for his own writing.. All demanded for him to manage time.

'Talking about love, eh?' Jiraiya said with a smirk as he read the paragraph one more time, thinking what Naruto will think upon it. Life going by with no regards for those who are not present.

' _I know it's impossible for you two knuckleheads to come home earlier, but I do want to ask if there can be an exception. Shizune and Iruka are getting married and you know how much both would love for him to appear. I wish you could make it._

_Tell Naruto, and in case you can't, simply to send a letter._

…

_Don't be a stranger.'_

'At least someone seems to have found it' Claimed Jiraiya to himself, wishing the best for those two. It was definitely a surprise, he had no clue of this happening and neither did Naruto. He was used to the idea of life changing, not recognising Konoha after a year long trip, if not longer.

Naruto meanwhile… Wasn't. He was not that self absorbed, not that he needed to be to feel disoriented after having been away for so long.

"Jiraiya-sama! Jiraiya-sama!" A desperate cry permeated the till now pleasingly quiet environment. Jiraiya raised his head from the mail to see who to venture his ire into. Kidding.

Three louder and ever increasing shouts later, a small shinobi from the leaf came into the picture. Jiraiya recognised him from the post.

"Huh?"

Breathless he appeared before him, extending his hand with a scroll on it.

This smelled wrong.

"What's this?" Jiraiya questioned as he started to unravel it.

"I don't know sir, it was sent to the Odo post from Sunagakure with the explicit warning that it was only for you or the Hokage to read sir. It's from the Kazekage himself. When informed I search for you as quickly as I could." The speed with which this man talked. He would be handy in an auction.

"Good job,..." Jiraiya trailed. Trying to grasp his name.

"Onishi sir".

"Good job Onishi. Hold till I read it."

The leaf shinobi looked up at the Sannin as he gave him his back. He understood that it was for secrecy reasons. He could see his shoulders rise as his head lowered in angle, reaching the bottom of the letter, hearing him roll the message, he awaited for his instructions.

Without turning to him, and with a wary tone, Jiraiya spoke up. Commanding.

"I want you to enter the station, tell the garrison that they're with me. They have a minute to be ready for combat. I want you to send a letter, whatever outlet it's the fastest to the Odo post. Tell them to be ready and parole. To look out in the trails for the Akatsuki" The shock of the mentioned left Onishi cold, he was yet to move. Fortunately, someone could push. "Now!"

Onishi disappeared as Jiraiya

'Naruto ought to be hours away yet. This is too soon. That message should have arrived earlier,' Jiraiya thought. There was no way that the perpetrator of the attack on two bijūs, who gathered a bit of their chakra, disappeared, being kidnapped from his cell, and the Akatsuki weren't involved in it.

Only one thing reing in Jiraiya's mind. His godson.

* * *

A tad latter.

Jiraiya was leading a squad of 8 men, heading to their meeting point. They were minutes away. It was due time, he couldn't believe he had forgotten.

Quickly stopping he did the usual motions.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu" He summoned Gemoto. The messenger toad that he assigned to Naruto.

"Finally!" Utter the toad relieved, content that the delay didn't prolong.

"Gemoto, where is he?" Jiraiya asked urgingly. "What's happening?"

"Naruto-kun is in danger. They were being pursued by a two man squad," As soon as he said that Jiraiya took a massive leap, doubling the pace. Gemoto started saying word for word what Naruto had told him to. "They're still nowhere near past Suna's forest. They were three hours away from the meeting point. He said to warn you, he believes that one of them is Hidan".

Then that stated who was the other. The pairings had been the same in the last two years. Jiraiya found maddening how little he knew of this particular one besides the lunatic claims of his immortality.

He would test that.

"They were three hours away from the meeting point when?" Jiraiya asked, hoping that he didn't have to do so again seeing there was no immediate answer. "Gemoto..."

"Two hours ago".

Jiraiya cursed.

* * *

Back minutes after Naruto's stumble…

"The other one is a Takigakure shinobi," briefed Naruto to their inhabitants' surprise. "Do you know anything about a man called Kakuzu?"

Naruto should have used the previous encounter to test the enemy's abilities and gather more about their capacities.

He didn't grasp how perilous they were. The next time they faced them, he wouldn't have the element of surprise. Or a plan like that.

"Do you know of a man called Kakuzu?" He asked again.

Fū was far too young to know of him. Yōrō gasped while Kegon's eyes outrageously opened. Baffled, he wondered if he heard Naruto right?

"Sorry?"

"I said if you know any intel on Kakuzu?"

So he heard right then.

"I mean it can't be, he ought to be ancient by now," Yōrō said, looking at his partner. Who nodded in disbelief.

Naruto had no time for this.

"One of the men trailing us is immortal, and the other threw his arm at me. His body seeming made of threads like a fucking rag doll. Could we just accept that they don't obey any natural laws and get on with it?" Naruto asked next to Fū, now being the both of them in the center of the formation. Their partners surround them closely.

If Kakuzu's age surprised them, they were in for a wild ride. That being the least outlandish or surreal thing Naruto had seen or heard today.

"Kakuzu was a former elite ninja in the village," All eyes were on Yōrō as he revisited his village passage. "He took on the mission of assassinating the First Hokage, Hashirama. The mission was vital for the village's interest. He failed, and worst, survived. Having to come home to a awaiting village that shunned him out and punish him for failing. We all know of him for what he did in response, killing the village elders and taking their hearts and escaping with the village's primordial forbidden technique."

"Jeez", solely added Sora. That was hardcore.

"Their hearts?" Naruto asked. That was interesting. What were those masks? Turning to Yōrō, "Any knowledge of what that technique was?" Both Yōrō and Kegon shook their heads. "Affinities, abilities, anything?"

They couldn't add anything.

'Dammit' Thought Naruto. What kinjutsu were their enemies using?

As Naruto was about to brief them on what he had seen and the capacities the enemy had, he queried himself… He wanted to tell the Shimogakure shinobi to scatter, not dying needlessly. They weren't after them. They've done more than enough, fulfilling their end of the bargain. The question was if he should.

"All right here is what I saw," Naruto imposingly raised his head for everyone to listen. It was for their fucking lives. "They might not really be immortal but they're definitely not easily killed, so don't ever back down and think you have ended it..."

And he went on about Kakuzu's wind and earth affinities, warning them he didn't know if that was all there was about him. About Hidan's lack of ninjutsu and recklessness. The damage he sustained and how he could still move. His scythe… And Kakuzu's mask, the one that bursted out after being deprived of oxygen.

All went pale. Their fear increasing. Naruto could see it in his partner's faces. Only Fū seemed undaunted. She was focused and one could say for certain upon looking at her, ready.

As Naruto progressed with all his warning, a look didn't leave him, surprised with his abilities. 'Are all Konoha shinobi like this?' Asked Noguchi silently, a well known Shimogakure jonin, Sora's and Tadashi's sensei. He knew the answer was a no. This boy was no genin. After some abilities he showcased, he could hardly call him a chunin. 'Why do you seem so familiar?'

Noguchi's surprise emerged when Naruto turned to him. Slowing down after finalizing his speech to get to the back of the formation where he was. Tadashi with him.

"What is it, Naruto?" Asked Tadashi.

"I think you should leave," added Naruto, almost whispering so the front couldn't hear it.

Talk about shock. Tadashi and Noguchi didn't understand. That idea never crossed their minds. Sora's meanwhile…

"What?" Could only gather to utter Tadashi. Noguchi immediately understood where this was coming from, he felt insulted.

"You've done your part already, Tadashi. If you stay..." Noguchi didn't let Naruto end his sentence.

"Thank you for your worries but we are shinobi, Naruto, we know what we're in for," They did not need nurturing or overprotectiveness. Not with these stakes.

"Yeah, besides, I think we owe you one. We can't let those bastards get their hands in the lot of you, not with the consequences it entails," added Tadashi.

'What could you owe me if Jiraiya put you to this mission? You're only here cause of… Crap' Naruto trailed off. Looking at them, he understood that they were determined. 'If this is what you want' Naruto nodded, going back to his position.

Were all shinobi this driven? Unopened to the idea of eluding death? He wished to say it honored them if he didn't prefer for them to live. Naruto had his reasons, they had theirs; he acknowledged that they could be more worthy or sensible than his.

Not that much time passed, they were just at the border. The Odo post was still many miles away.

In their sight the ruins of a destroyed town.

"There has not been a sign of them catching up to us", said Kegon, somewhat relieved and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Maybe Naruto has scared them off," Sora added too, somewhat at ease.

"Not a chance," That came out of Naruto himself. Having seen them in action, he could spend a lifetime citing more likely scenarios than their pursuers turning back.

Tadashi reckoned it was time.

"Naruto, why don't you do your thing again?" He advised. Naruto agreed.

Summoning a clone, Naruto was about to sit when amids the present quietness. Rocks were heard as they rain down from one of the upper structures. It was knocked down inadvertently by someone. The entire squad looked up.

It was a Konoha shinobi!

Many thanked their respective gods.

"Are you Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto nodded, incapable of opening his mouth to add in a couple of words. Looking up, he saw the shinobi. Above him a tree that grew above the house, its branches dancing as he heard a whisper. By the height of the building and their position, Naruto could barely visualize his face and upper torso.

The welcoming salutes of his partners interrupted that whisper.

"Jiraiya-sama send for… Ugh!"

Out of the man's chest went an arm. With the man's heart on his palm, cutting off its arteries and veins with a tuck. Blood trickling down in between. The Konoha shinobi spouted it too.

It was out of a horror movie.

"This is one. I only need one more," Said Kakuzu from the back of the man, before pushing forward the lifeless body.

It fell and hit the floor rapidly, splashing the man's guts and breaking his bones. Rising dust as the impact resonated.

"Kakuzu," said Naruto, recognising his foe as he approached the edge of the building showing himself. Now was where Naruto learned what he needed those hearts for.

In a gruesome fashion, Kakuzu introduced it inside his own body as he looked down. Recognising Fū. Their target.

He didn't match Naruto's stare, for he was searching for the brown-haired boy from before, eager to face him on his own terms.

Cries of surprise reign instead of the previous cheering. The automatic response of some was to look away in search for a route to escape. When trying they found their path blocked but weird constructs. Dark figured bodies with the masks that resemble those that Naruto mentioned. Two specifically.

With full bodies! They had never seen something so bizarre before. Naruto was not the only one looking at Kakuzu directly. Tadashi muttered what he believed was the case given the information he had.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Said Tadashi as they noticed another dark masked figure appearing from his back. The threads inside him rearranging his skin almost automatically.

Their hypothesis seems more likely now.

"Yes," Naruto responded. "That's what the hearts are for. Five, four for the masks and one for himself. If we want to kill him, we will have to destroy each one."

"Agreed. Now it begs the question of what each of these things do," That clouded Tadashi's mind. Alongside darker thoughts in response, like burning each allied corpse of this battle before this new enemy could grab a hold of a usable heart.

"I don't know, they seem fully operational," Naruto tried to guess by looking if each of the masks had a distinctive feature or something that could show the answer. Besides them being ugly, he could not say much. 'Seen them moving. Aren't they brainless? What is it, muscle memory?'

"You heard that?" Tadashi turned to the group, all nodded. Hoping they were paying attention.

'Where's Hidan?' Wondered Noguchi.

'Clever boy,' Kakuzu wanted to test something. Out of the mask behind them, a stream of lighting was aimed at the blonde.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough."

Naruto's technique obliterated Kakuzu's.

'So it is you' There was no doubt about that. Kakuzu smiled, ducking the gust of wind coming his way. 'Who are you, boy?' The challenge magnetized him.

It was quite the nerving, unease inducing atmosphere. Kakuzu and his masks looked down to them with the high ground advantage, yet they had not made a move. What were they waiting for?

"The technique came from the mask," observantly pointed out Sora, who had not uttered a word since the enemy's arrival.

Tadashi and Naruto's gaze meet. Noguchi followed their train of thought. 'Let's see if we are on the right track'.

The fear that Kakuzu's ninjutsu prowess inspired was on full display. All looked warily at a man that had displayed the capacity of performing three different natures.

'Arrogant prick. You are not afraid of showing your abilities,' Noguchi thought, so far reading this guy like an open book. Were they that cocky? Looking around, he searched for the hotheaded one. Stealth and patience didn't seem like his virtue, so where was he at?

Steps were heard behind Kakuzu. They quickened as they approached him. It was a Naruto's clone. Yet the thread composed being didn't move an inch.

Naruto's clone gathered enough chakra to create a Rasengan, 'this is too easy', he thought as he came closer.

He heard a familiar laugh approach from the side, Hidan.

"Ahh!" The scythe went right by the clone.

By the inertia and the hate that filled that strike, the vengeful force he put in his swing, Hidan almost tripped.

Kakuzu turned to him. In his eyes printed their eagerness.

He clapped his hands.

The two masks behind them merged. Suddenly opening. The team glimpsed one gathering air and upon the other a flame, intensifying by the minute.

Soon they realised it.

Sora, Nogichi, and Kegon took a step towards it.

"Water Style: Water Wall", Performed pupil and sensei in unison.

"Water Style: Cannon Ball," Kegon performed.

The rest braced as they already could feel the heat incoming, infused by the strong current.

As soon as they made impact, rather closer than they ever wanted, steam emerged creating a momentary fog like environment. Only that hot air invaded them this time, sweating as the temperatures suddenly rose.

With the humidity in the air and blind, Naruto waited for a tone, a sound as he ordered those around him to not disperse yet. Soon enough another mask opened, 'Not yet'.

The sound of the Chidori was permeated in his mind, the bird's chirping. This wasn't that, but he had heard enough Raiton techniques to know.

Kakuzu and Naruto performed each of their techniques second apart from each other.

"Lightning Release: False Darkness."

"Wind Style: Whirlwind Shield."

Kakuzu's lightning spear clashed with Naruto's sudden current fortress, not getting through. The current carry on and as it dispersed, so did the bothersome steam impregnated around them, clearing the line of sight. As they looked up to the building, neither Akatsuki was up there. Nor could they find the masks.

Unbeknownst to them in the center of their formation, there was a beating, resounding below the floor. As soon as one heard it, they turned upon warning. Something popped out of there, a skein pumping with threads out of it.

"Look out!" Shouted Kegon, too late.

Out of the floor, the threads emerged tying up all the members, the whole seven of them.

"Dammit" Cursed Naruto, deviating his gaze from the skein to the opposite direction. He gasped. Just before him, at arm's length reach, were both Hidan and Kakuzu.

Out of the second one's left arm you could follow a trail of threats that went underground.

He was so shocked that he almost didn't notice Hidan lunging his scythe upwards. He closed his eyes.

"Naruto!"

Naruto didn't think he would last utter breath with Hidan's madman laugh as the soundtrack.

His scythe went down to his legs, chopping down the tree as its lower limbs were obliterated. Naruto cried as he fell to the floor, tearing and in utter shock.

Everyone stared as Hidan licked this weapon. He was ghoulish. That was not the only thing he was doing, he was drawing a weird symbol on the floor.

Kakuzu didn't wait for his partners to kill each by that method of his. He couldn't hold the whole squad forever. 'Or could I?' He speculated as he looked at them, hopeless, grabbed by their arms, some by the throat, tied up and choking, incapable of aiding their crippled partner…

Kakuzu sadistically left Naruto to Hidan, with the clause of him being killed the last one, the threads grabbing a hold of the boy, like a puppeteer, making him watch.

He wanted the brat who dared take two hearts from him to see everything, the play from the best seats.

Out of the floor popped out more threads, each lunged at incredible speed to each forehead, killing them swiftly.

Naruto looked as they were falling like dominos. He bit onto the sand as they lunged him to the floor. He refused to believe it. He couldn't bite his thumb or poke in one of his wounds so the pain could wake him up. He did the best he could instead, biting with strength into a rock, hoping that as he lost a tooth, he would awaken from this horror tale.

The threads wrapped around each of his legs, applying like a tourniquet to each limb. They didn't want him to bleed to death before he could see this. The pain of that constricting force didn't wake him. He felt like he was poked with a needle thousand times in what remains of his thigh. How could this be real? He teared.

Rearranging his position away, he was spun again to Hidan. Naruto had no vital force nor care to be shocked when he saw the monster's transformation. His skin turned dark and in it were distinctive lines colored in with a bone like tone.

The look on Hidan's face, he smiled as he drove part of his weapon into his own chest!

Naruto felt a pain rapidly sink in. The pain of being pictured in the heart, feeling blood trickling down both his mouth and his chest in sequence to Hidan tears of happiness and joy as he shouted out Jashin's name a thousand times over.

Hidan rasing as Naruto sunk, his corpse falling to the ground.

Hidan coughed as he kept laughing, Kakuzu looking at him in disbelief before stumbling. Suddenly that brief but annoying coughing prolonged and turned heinous. Hidan felt some horrible, worrying pain, stumbling along the field towards the corpses inadvertently, Kakuzu instead away from them.

Hidan couldn't stand on his two feet, tripping over as he fell to a puddle of blood, that of Naruto's legs. He passed his arm through his forehead, his complete face rather. When coughing, a strange dust rushed out.

He didn't recognise the touch of his own arm. He opened his eyes upon trembling to look at it to his surprise. To his dread. Out of his skin was erupting something, a stem. Like a virus, a kind of fungi was fruiting in his own body. Growing quickly out of control out of every inch of him.

A cry of disconsolation emanated, he couldn't even phrase his pain out loud without tripping his words with bubbling cries for help. Grabbing his scythe, with force, he drove it to his chest.

Interrupting his internal system. Or at least shocking it.

Next thing he knew, Hidan was beside Kakuzu as his partner stood up, before being thrown into the building behind them.

All their enemies were alive and well. Spread through the field. He looked in search for who did that genjutsu, seeing the green-haired girl that they were supposed to catch with her hands clapped.

"Ninpō: Cordyceps Fungi." Fū preferred that over calling it killer fungi, or something else. More biologically fitting.

"Outstanding job, Fū," mentioned Tadashi in thankfulness. "Please recall me later to be kinder to you."

Naruto and Fū's gaze briefly meet. Both smiling.

Naruto looked up at the clear sky. A simple idea crossing his mind. He was so obdurate in the match that he had forgotten where they were.

"Any fire style users?" He shouted with no care for their opponents hearing it. Yōrō grudgingly raised both his head and voice. He was not a proficient ninjutsu user, but it seemed like he was the only one here with at least the capacity of performing a jutsu of that kind.

Naruto jumped back to his side. "Don't worry, aim up, I will guide your fire", Yōrō understood what Naruto implied. He nodded. "Now!"

"Fire Style: Fire Breath Jutsu."

"Wind Style: Gigantic Breakthrough."

* * *

Jiraiya was leading the man as he fastened his pace. Out of the tree line he saw a bright light in the distance, rushing and getting out of the forest. Upon the edge of a small elevation in the landscape, he saw an enormous fire rise high enough in the sky.

A flare.

They weren't that far away. 'Hold on, Naruto'.

"Everyone hold up," He said as he ran towards that edge, jumping.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Shouted in worry one of the Leaf shinobi, heading to the cliff's edge himself to see what happened. He heard Jiraiya saying...

"Summoning Jutsu."

A giant puff of smoke appeared, till pushed away by a giant hand. A giant toad appeared.

With Jiraiya atop his head. The toad extended a hand for the shinobi remaining.

"Everyone hold on to Gamahiro," Jiraiya ordered to no one's protest. Looking back in the flare's direction, he pointed Gamahiro in the direction he ought to take his giant strides to.

* * *

Some embers trickled down in the sky.

"Think they will see that?" Yōrō said, smiling.

"Everyone, don't divert your eyes from them," advised Nogichi as he went to aid Kegon, too late for Kakuzu had already kicked him out of the picture.

"That's our cue to stop playing around and finishing this", stated Kakuzu as he flew by Hidan, who quickly stood up and went ahead to fight.

Kakuzu went for the head-to-head combat as one of his masks covered him while the other two ones went after Fū, who was doing her best to dodge their wind and lightning techniques.

The fire one was covering Kakuzu, with Naruto in mind.

Noguchi drew his kunai and tried to strike Kakuzu, who eluded with ease by bending a little, hitting consequently Noguchi in the arm with precise force, after two other attempts to cut him. His palm opened, and the kunai fell to the floor.

Without balance, Noguchi tried to jump back but Kakuzu's spread arm grabbed a hold of him and brought him back into range, holding him in place and landing a devastating blow with his leg on Noguchi's thigh, before he could punch him, his right arm was grabbed by a whip.

He turns to see Sora, who in his exercise of protecting his master forgot that there was something covering his enemy, starting a chain of events.

Seeing the fire technique coming from the fire mask, Kegon went to aid, performing the hand jutsu to counter that attack. Prior to him ending it, lending a hand, a fatal blow by Hidan's scythe found a way to his gut.

Killing him. Leaving Sora unprotected.

Fortunately, Tadashi rushed in and pushed Sora out of the way, barely getting the both of them touched by the fire.

"Kegon!" Shouted Yōrō. One second he and Naruto were facing Hidan. The laughing madman drove Naruto back, getting Yōrō himself to his knees with a blow, on the verge of killing him; and the next he saw was Hidan instead killing his partner.

The last part of this chain of eventualities is that with no hold on Kakuzu's arm, this one shot Noguchi far away. Into a crumbling wall.

Noguchi didn't have time to linger, as the mask above Kakuzu performed breath fire to his way. He responded in time.

"Water Style: Water Stream", he could elude the attack, retiring again with the sudden steam as the curtain, jumping over the wall.

Kakuzu was waiting for it, appearing like a blur just in front of him as Noguchi was about to take a second duration break. Kakuzu threads grabbed a hold of him, before his arm went straight through him.

Noguchi's body turns to water. A clone. Trickling down to Kakuzu's clothes. A small pond on his feet.

Before he noticed Tadashi was behind him, close enough. Ready and free to do this, with both Sora and his sensei taking care of the mask.

Grabbing a hold of Kakuzu he performed his lighting release, frying the bastard. When in a knee and still trembling from the electricity, Tadashi tried to land a fatal blow but somehow he found himself kicked back.

Kakuzu went for the boy and again struck him, only that this time Tadashi went straight through a decaying house, its pillars collapsing and the structure falling onto the boy.

Sora attempted to turn from the mask when he heard that, not knowing what happened to his partner. His sensei shouted at him to not do that.

The mask went into hand to hand combat with Noguchi. When Sora went to aid him, he instead found himself before Kakuzu, who looked down upon him like he was the most insignificant of things.

Scared, he tried. Water stream emanated from his mouth, only for it to be stopped by Kakuzu with one bare hand as he kept advancing despite the force of the water. Sora knew he couldn't run, having seen his sensei getting caught. Instead, when Kakuzu had almost reached him, Sora stopped his technique, ducking Kakuzu's incoming arm, going straight for his chest with a quickly summoned sword.

"Ahh!" Sora shouted, infusing himself with courage.

Before being choked by Kakuzu after he grabbed a hold of the utterly scared and pleading boy. Angst in his eyes. Trying everything he could to free himself, his legs striding mid air for nothing.

"No, please.. No" splutter Sora in desperation and fear in between the choking sound.

Kakuzu arm backtracks a bit before lunging with force into the boy's body. Smiling under his mask as he grabbed a hold of a new heart. Ripping it off from the boy.

Noguchi stared in disbelief, panic-struck and sickened as Kakuzu threw the boy's body away. Ire controlled him. Trying his best to get past the mask to kill that fucking bastard.

And he attempted, with incredible poise and ability, an admirable effort that was enough for Kakuzu to not notice what was happening around the field, with all his masks occupied, having Fu proven to be a handful as she was close enough to break one of them.

* * *

Naruto stood up from the rubble. Bleeding a bit from an injury on his leg, having wrapt it swiftly with a bandage. Looking at the enemy in front of him, seething. Putting the glasses back on, he couldn't lead the Akatsuki onto any knowledge of his having this ability, therefore hiding the distinctive feature of it, his frog-like eyes.

A clone somewhere in the battlefield disappeared, having done its job.

He went on Sage mode, with his stare solely on Hidan, who looked as if he was having a blast as Yōrō eluded his blows. Resisting the thought of two signatures now gone from the field, Kogen's and Sora's and the stumpigs heard in the distance, fully aware of the help to come, Naruto went back to the field.

Faster than neither of them could fathom, Naruto appeared in between the two, bending the metal of Hidan's scythe as he tried to strike Yōrō. The Akatsuki members try to stab Naruto, or at least draw blood with another pointy weapon of his, a futile effort given Naruto's enhanced reflexes.

Naruto was going to break him.

He got as close as you could get, landing a blow to his ribs, breaking them, ducking Hidan's blow and getting behind his right elbow, grabbing a hold of it and breaking it before tossing both Hidan's weapons aside as he knocked them loose.

Eluding another blow from his right arm, Naruto kicked with aim the left side of Hidan's left knee, bending it. Spinning around and once again hitting him in the other leg from behind, forcing him to bend, both of Hidan's knees on the floor, Naruto having a hold of both his arms as he put a leg in his back, just like Sasuke did back them.

Unlike Sasuke, this was not a lust filled, uncontrolled attack, but the best course of action.

Pushing, he separated them from their sockets, tearing everything apart. Looking at Yōrō and his swords as this one understood and went to cut the enemy in pieces, completing the separation of Hidan's arms from his body.

Naruto pushes Hidan onto the floor. As this one still made the effort to stand up, Yōrō cut his head. It was bouncing along the floor, his eyes and mouth still opened.

Still talking.

"I'll bite you to death, motherfucker."

His severed parts still moving, having spasms.

Yōrō could still not believe it. He was brought out of his stupor by Naruto, as he called for him.

"Go help the others, Yōrō. I'm going to bury this monster in that withering house ahead," Naruto said as he started moving, heading to grab a hold of Hidan's body, intending to toss it ahead.

Yōrō grabbed Naruto, thinking it was better if he did this himself. In his state, he would be of no help to the others. He was drained, and seeing Naruto he understood that he was on another level.

"Let me," he wisely stated.

Naruto nodded, thanking silently Yōrō. Naruto looked down at Hidan. He couldn't seal his head away, wrapping it as a present for the interrogation core of the village. Although the chances of Danzo getting his hands on him were scary.

"All right, guard the head and hide, we're keeping it to interrogate him on Akatsuki's plans", he advised as he disappeared to the battlefield, hurrying in Noguchi's aid, as he felt in the worst shape of the two members still fighting. His chakra dwindled.

* * *

Noguchi braced. Each palm sitting on the opposite shoulder, raising them so they covered his ducked head. Forming an x.

The blow sent him back many feet. As he stood up, he saw Kakuzu preparing another fire technique. Amidst their fight, something seems different. Both looked to their right as Hidan's cry of ire and hate were heard.

Kakuzu had to finish this.

With their stares succinctly focused still on that place, they catch a blur appearing suddenly before hiding behind the small rubble before them.

Dust emerging as if something had jumped. Minuscule rocks falling as they were no longer forced up by someone's momentum.

Noguchi didn't make much of it until he saw what appeared behind Kakuzu, specifically behind Kakuzu's mask. A blue light casting a strange coloration to that part of the field. 'He's fast.'

"Rasengan!" Naruto contacted the fire mask, utterly destroying it. Bringing Kakuzu to one knee in pain as he was back to four hearts, still three more than the average person.

Not impeded by the pain, Kakuzu lunged at the boy, directly for close combat while his newly water mask went for Noguchi, who tried to no avail. He couldn't protect himself from the incoming technique.

"Water Style: Raging Waves". A single wave drove Noguchi with force against the structures, impaling him against a broken metal piece that popped out the building.

Naruto couldn't do anything. He was grabbed by the foot as he went in aid, thrown away. From the debris as he stood, Naruto couldn't catch a breath, nor gaze at Noguchi. He was waiting for the other clone to disappear to go into sage mode again, this was his last chance.

Three minutes to hold this man off. Once that ran down he would be helpless and without chakra. Almost dead by the precarious nature of his position. 'I don't even have a minute for each heart'. He just had to hold on.

The clock started counting down.

When Kakuzu launched, Naruto responded by punching him, outmaneuvering him, going straight for his body in close quarters, hitting him in the mouth and unveiling his face completely once Kakuzu stood up from wherever he landed. He was not the most pleasing of sights.

From the rubble Naruto saw once again Kakuzu's arm going underground, so he looked down and jumped, eluding the threads. Kakuzu smirked.

In mid air, Naruto saw the water and lightning mask jumping beside him, combining and forming a deathly technique.

Scared once they opened Naruto thought fast.

He summoned a clone that threw him out of the way, towards Kakuzu, eluding the attack as it pummeled all on its path. He was cartwheeling in the air, not the best situation for an aimed hit or any defense. It was not his best idea. Before he reached Kakuzu or he could summon another clone to deviate from the route towards his claws, the third mask appeared in the blink of an eye, standing in front of Kakuzu. It performed his technique for the second and last time in this combat.

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage."

It threw Naruto back. He hit the deck hard. Even in Sage Mode it hurt.

Someone appeared besides him, "Are you okay?" only that it was intending to aid him. Fū helped Naruto stand up. She meant to come sooner after the masks let her be, but she had to check up on Kegon. Sadly becoming aware that he was dead.

When both looked at Kakuzu, while his attire was destroyed, he seemed fine. In complete control. With energy and chakra to continue this indefinitely. Both Naruto and Fū were panting.

Something made its way into the picture.

The earth trembles beneath them, each time with increased force. The sound in the distance approaching. "What's that?" Asked Fū. The danger of it was becoming quite real before them.

Kakuzu looked in the direction, his masks rearranging their position to face whatever was incoming. Soon enough they could see above the tree line a giant toad jumping.

Looking back at Naruto, Kakuzu saw his stance, while with his goggles on, he could see his demeanor in battle. Not leaving anything to chance or taking a break, even with reinforcements. He posed to be a threat if he kept growing as a shinobi.

"They're reinforcements, Fū," Naruto took out his glasses. His Sage Mode had faded sooner than imagined. He portrayed the next part, acting tough, while in reality he could not move a muscle. "It's over, Kakuzu."

It indeed was. Kakuzu conceded with that. And so did a sudden appearance beside him.

"It's time to retire, Kakuzu," in this spectacle, this freak show, another star enters. Naruto and Fū carefully looked at it. Half white, half black. With some kind of mouth, or something, enveloping its head. Neither would venture to call it human.

It was wearing the Akatsuki's cloak, and that was all that mattered.

Kakuzu rose, all his mask, the mass of matter they were, went back to his back. 'This guy really is a monster', thought Naruto.

"Hidan?" Kakuzu asked, being answered by the creature shaking his head.

"I couldn't find him."

"Nor hear him?" How could that be? Thought Kakuzu. Having not heard silence near Hidan. He ought to be still alive. It was a good riddance if not because he had information. He dared standing up to search for him, but stumbled back down as Gamahiro landed in the vicinity. The leaf shinobi jumped down with the idea in mind of going after him.

As soon as Naruto saw Jiraiya, he went down by his body unconscious orders. As soon as his brain succinctly turned down, realising that they might survive this when seeing his sensei, his body took the chance to call the shots.

He was barely cognizant, Fū grabbed a hold of him so he didn't hurt himself. Searching for any wounds on his body after laying him down slowly. She saw a blood tainted bandage on his leg.

Nothing beyond that, quickly tending as best as she knew, which meant replacing the mentioned bandaging with a new one. She didn't know what else could be done. Looking sideways as the weird thing that appeared now faded on the floor, while Kakuzu did the same thing in the smoke he just created.

Jiraiya was nowhere close reaching Kakuzu, he saw him in the distance but couldn't reach him. Looking around at this place, praying that he didn't arrive too late.

"There ought to be seven ally shinobis. Search for them!" Having already briefed them to which village all belong to. "You two throughly look for the Akatsuki, see if they have really left."

Looking back at Gamahiro, from his upper and wider view, he pointed to Jiraiya where the boy was. And so did with those shinobi he could see, mainly Noguchi, the corpses of both Sora and Kogen. Still tracing for the remaining Tadashi. Pointing them to the awaiting rescue party.

Yōrō goes out of his hideout to meet the reinforcements himself, with a weird thing on his hand. Gamahiro didn't want to say what he believed that was out loud.

Jiraiya hurried. Jumping onto the first level of the building where both were all along.

"Naruto," he said as he rushed to his side, looking at the boy. He was completely out, his clothes mostly turned apart, the googles broken in his hand. "How is he?"

"He's fine, exhausted and all, but he's not badly wounded," Calmly said Fū as she showed him Naruto's wound. It was nowhere near the bone. Jiraiya finally breathed, thanking the universe, passing a hand through his mane before looking at the girl before him.

He felt like he just lost a year of his life, in between the worry and having gone full tilt for many miles before he summoned the Gamahiro... Yeah. He would not petition to experience this again.

"Fū?" He questioned her, although he had perfect knowledge of who she was. It was no assumption. She nodded. "Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine," She simply put. Jiraiya smiled complacent, glad.

"We better take you all to the nearest hospital," standing up Jiraiya peek out of the building as he saw the members gather, the official approaching. "How are the rest?"

"Two dead, a kid from Shimogakure and one of the Jonin of the Waterfall," Fū looked down again, feeling somewhat guilty. "and two injured. The other kid will make it, their sensei has lost too much blood already. He has minutes at best, I don't think Tsunade herself could heal him."

That meant that six of the seven were accounted for, Jiraiya wondered where was that last one was, and he was not alone in that.

"Where's Yōrō?" Question Fū filled with worry.

"I'm here," a voice made his way, being helped as he approached. Not able to standalone on his two feet.

Fū was relieved, Jiraiya meanwhile noticed something else. Upon the man's hip was hanging a head?

Jiraiya jumped near him.

"Careful, it bites," warned Yōrō as Jiraiya picked it up from the hair. Baffled.

'It bites?' As he raised it, the head turned by mere momentum and for the first time Jiraiya saw Hidan's face. The shock that was printed on Jiraiya's face, as he saw Hidan's eyes moving and him mouthing something, only for a rope to elude any of them from being understandable; was resounding. It almost forced him to jump back from the scare. 'What the hell is this?'

His mind didn't last long before returning to a planning mode, upon the chance of interrogating this subject, with no prospect of him escaping. This was a game changer. He gave it to a clone of himself, not trusting anyone to hold him, while he went to pick up Naruto.

They had to evacuate. More shinobis that were on patrol upon the sound approached them. The storm ought to be over.

Jiraiya didn't know what happened, he would question the boy about it as soon as he opened his eyes. What he did know was what he achieved, they rather, the end product of this whole thing. For as painful as it may be for the losses, given the odds, was astounding. 'You've done good gaki. Rest'.

" **He has done, indeed"**

Jiraiya knew Naruto wouldn't see it that way.

* * *

Kakuzu escaped through the forest. An image printed on his mind, that of that child. The salt that was poured into the wound when Zetsu told him that it was the Nine tails Jinchūriki…

He would volunteer for the next party that was sent for him. Promising himself the next time they meet would be the boy's last. 'Just you wait, Uzumaki Naruto'.


	11. A no so Intricate Stop

“Up! Come on, you’ve asked for this,” There was a sense of desperation in the man’s voice, although acted. It was discernible once you saw the smile on his face.

If only the other figure could gather the strength to even gesticulate, to simulate being in the mood to smile like that…

He was bruised, fruitlessly tired.

“Brief break needed here, sensei,” he was panting, resting on the floor face down, gathering all the strength he could to solely attempt to raise his torso. It proved challenging. “I didn’t think this was going to be this maddeningly difficult.”

“Did you say difficult just so I couldn’t say phrasing once you said hard?” Jiraiya was having a laugh at the expense of his pupil. It was amusing, why lie?

“Yes,” remarked the panting youngling. 

He was still rational. Shouting “phrasing” was his thing, there was pride and an identity-defining quality in there, his version of that’s what she said. 

He knew better than to lead others so they could copy it or emulate it, the typical mockery. 

“All fucking morning yelling in my ear, nonstop,” persistent wouldn’t cut it, “Telling me you wanted this. I told you you weren’t ready, but did you hear me? No” The figure walked near his sixteen-year-old student, offering him a hand that he wasn’t ready to accept yet, wanting to rest longer. “Where is your bragging self now, Shiraki?” Asked Jiraiya with a smile before the chunin.

“On the verge of coughing my lungs out. Of kissing the floor. Trying to catch my breath,” Shiraki said in between coughs. “Just give me a fucking second.”

Jiraiya bend, crouching, standing closer to the teenager. Shiraki had been so adamant all day about learning the technique Jiraiya had recently taught Minato, that the Sannin had no option but to budge and accept.

He was not playing favorites, or at least not that much.

There was an honest wonder as to why they were doing this right now. When he called it a day earlier than usual, Minato and Mikoto complied happily as they trailed off, both to search for Kushina without talking to each other. 

Shiraki just remained there instead.

Leaving the fun for later, Jiraiya asked.

“What brought this on, Shiraki?”

The boy’s stare didn’t leave the floor. Jiraiya honestly had no clue.

Shiraki took his time to open up. 

“When we faced that Iwa shinobi, Tahaya, the one that was involved in the killing of all of Team 9,” Shiraki looked up just to see if Jiraiya was following. If he knew of who he was talking about, when Jiraiya nodded he proceeded, “early on our match I realized that I had no chance. I couldn’t match her ninjutsu, nor get close enough to reach her one damn time. Fuck, I couldn’t even trap her in any gentjustu.” The frustration was evident, as his desire for vengeance when looking back at the fight. “I realized the only way I could get out of it was to delay her enough so that Mikoto or Minato could fucking appear and save my ass again,” what ended up happening, “every other thing I did she counter it with ease.”

“And seeing as Minato could reach her with that technique, you wanted me to teach you,” stated Jiraiya, realizing what was happening.

Shiraki nodded. Both took deep breaths. One for health reasons, the other to gather the right state of mind to illustrate things.

Saying that the enemy was simply a terrible match wouldn’t cut it. Less when that woman had hurt them all so badly, scarred them with a mental image they won’t forget. It was a point, a point worthy of being mentioned because one wrong matchup could lead to it being the last, but not one fitting to say out loud when this was clearly beyond that.

Jiraiya took a seat next to Shiraki, both amidst the Death Forest.

“Shiraki, you know there’s a reason why I taught you three differently, ever since you passed the chunin exams. In what regards your capacities you three are very divergent,” Jiraiya meets Shiraki’s gaze, knowing the boy to heart went with it. “Shiraki, if I were to say to you right now in your training that I don’t play favorites, what would you say to that?”

“Bullshit”, Shiraki answered immediately with his characteristic tone. 

It was a knock on Jiraiya; they were all aware of the fact. What honored his sensei was that he had neglected none of them. In many’s eyes, he was the best teacher, by a mind-bending margin. Ranking beyond the others arranged in the academy. 

All senseis had predilections, he wasn’t blinded by them. 

Just look at the results of their team training. Three of the four current top members of their generation, among the still surviving members of that crew.

“Right? You’re an aware person Shiraki and you know the core of who I am as a teacher. You cut through the disguise. You acknowledge that I would have taught you that technique if I thought you were capable. If it fitted the style and moves you’ve already developed,” Jiraiya didn’t want to mince words. “You know that your inherent chakra capacities are not on par with those other two, nor do you or Minato have any dōjutsu like Mikoto. You are not them nor should you desire, not only because in many senses you can’t currently, but because altogether you know how far beyond them you are in other areas. That’s why I told you to train with Niko while Mikoto went with the Uchiha and I worked with Minato on his techniques, but you didn’t want to listen.” Jiraiya didn’t understand his fucking reasons. It was maddening. He knew that there had to be something, Shiraki was not led by ego or pride, so why. Niko was the perfect fit for Shiraki’s style and needs, and Jiraiya had already arranged everything.

“Yes, because I already knew what I do best and wanted you to help me in it, but you fucking said no to me,” Shiraki said, not yet raising his voice.

“Again with this?” Jiraiya asked. How many times did he have to answer this? He knew Shiraki fit the mold. He was fluent in many languages and aware of many cultures, savant of things a boy his age shouldn’t, but there was no way he was going to go along with this.

“Yes again. Just let me be a part of it. You told me your spy network is already set and working. It’s what I do best. Gather information, deceit, infiltrate... You know it's true. When in need in missions, I have proved it time and time again. You confessed being surprised. Just teach me that or tell one of your spies to give me a hand so I can get a hold of it,” Shiraki repeated for the thirtieth time in the past year.

“So you find how fulfilling that life is? No. I wouldn’t wish that life on anybody Shiraki, least of all help one of my students to experience it. Given that they have so many other chances. You are already a chunin Shiraki, you’ve got many other paths to follow.” Jiraiya said as he helped Shiraki to stand up.

“It’s my call,” Shiraki honestly and truthfully claimed.

“And it’s mine to accept and offer you the chance, and I say no,” when looking in the boy’s eyes, Jiraiya saw the endurance Shiraki had when pursuing the chance. “Do I have to show you what becomes of someone when they live that life?”

Shiraki paused, looking down before answering. He meant for this chance to occur before accepting what he had been shortly propositioned. Seeing as his sensei didn’t want to listen.

“I’m gonna enlist on the Anbu,” He blurted out. Jiraiya mentally stumbled back, physically just opening his mouth, slightly. “Mikoto and Minato are already Jōnin, and after the spectacle I made when Mikoto said that the chances of the team continuing are slim to none. And like you said, given our differences, I doubt they will put us in similar assignments. I have to find my way.” He paused as he handed Jiraiya a letter. “One captain saw the reports of what we did in the retrieval mission of the archives and offered me a position. The Hokage approved it already. All that's left is for me to go to the headquarters and sign.”

It shocked Jiraiya.

‘You better have a reason to accept this and not tell me, sensei’ Jiraiya thought, having in mind paying a visit to Sarutobi. They didn’t grasp what could result from this in the Sannin’s mind.

He wanted better for his student. 

“You’re making a mistake, Shiraki. You know much better than this.”

* * *

**Two weeks before Akatsuki’s attempt to kidnap Fū...**

The thing was, he didn’t. Clearly.

If he volunteered to re-enter this world after all he had endured in it and struggled to leave it, he clearly didn’t.

Jiraiya had warned him of the sacrifices he would have to make, working full time. Partaking casually half your time in a job and a life that ain’t yours so you could take part in that other world, where your aim laid, in the remaining time without causing suspicion. 

Drawing people and their loyalty… Sometimes squishing mentioned people, their lives, with them not having a clue of who was responsible. Seeing the hurt in their eyes when they knew. Having people you trusted ending or destroying your life can’t be pleasant. Or learning that they pretended all along, which was not always true.

The danger, the stakes. How ungratifying all was. 

You could not step in this world with one foot, either you did so fully or you risked a prompt death.

Death was a topic in mind for the now older Shiraki as he walked down the corridor of the base. The topic of how to avoid it.

‘That snake...’ Shiraki didn’t know how to frame his astonishment better. Despite how low he thought of that particular Sannin, he underestimated how unpredictable and uncaring he could be. 

‘Where is the fucking room?’ He thought with certain knowledge of where it was. It was his frustration talking as he hoped to arrive promptly at it. ‘Let’s see if I recall where all those records are… Ough!’ His trail of thought was stopped once a giant man collided purposely with him.

“Better be careful,” he claimed as he looked down on Shiraki. “Watch where you are going next time.”

Rather than playing his game, Shiraki smiled, it was decided then. A light bulb switched in his mind.

This was not the kind of espionage Shiraki was used to. Most of his work could solely rely around basic human psychology, knowing what interested people, their motivations. Studying and analyzing for whatever purpose they had, leading each figure to what a place he wanted, where he could operate to his purpose. When most of those figures either want to kill or to be free of the shackles of the madman you can’t lunge at, it puts you in a precarious situation. 

The construct of morality out the window.

He had to change his accent, his attire and his hair, leaving it as long as he could with his decaying quantity, growing a beard, wearing lenses... 

For this work, he needed something beyond what he had previously done. 

He continued walking…

He was more the blending type, not wanting to stand out. But he had to improvise if he wanted to put a stop to this and rescue Sasuke, if he was to destroy Orochimaru’s plans, therefore needing to climb the ladder. Raising among the ranks.

Earlier that morning all those members of the high echelon were threatened, with that hissing tongue running inches away from their earlobes as that monster promised death to all their leaders where they to be the traitors, or where they to not find them.

Having random shipment attacks stopped one by one, depriving him of some needed resources, was getting on Orochimaru's nerves. ‘Bad luck freak’ Shiraki thought.

Shiraki thought, in relative terms, that he was safe. Not having made mistakes so far. 

Only problem was that Orochimaru killed his most trusted man after Kabuto, in cold blood this morning. Just when they all thought the pep talk was over, and just to show how little value the personnel in his command had for him. The most loyal and valuable person of Orochimaru's military staff, innocent of being the mole, and he was killed with no afterthought. 

If Orochimaru could murder that one, the prospect of Shiraki being next was not so unlikely under this random set of events. Even more so with Kabuto’s gaze always focused on him, having not fooled the man, nor gained any information or trust of him. He was a conundrum and for now not that much of a danger if not by his master's side.

The clock was ticking, and he had to play the game to stay on it. 

You could hear the door open as he entered the filing area, a second like kind of headquarters. With his clearance, those at the door had no problem with him going by. Obviously a door with such content was not unguarded.

Tricking these people, meaning Kabuto and Orochimaru, was more difficult than it seemed. Most people don’t expect to be lied to, so there ain’t this natural feeling of distrust. As long as you kept things close to the truth so you could naturally follow your own story. 

To lie to a rational, analytic and cynic mind, prove them right. That was what his captain told him. There was nothing those individuals desire more than to prove their aim and wisdom. Give them a trail of clues towards rational judgments and they will walk down that road happily. Show them evidence and they will follow to where you point them.

The problem with Shiraki’s current position was that if he altered anything, the few people with the capacity to do so if discovered would be judged and face the chance of being killed gruesomely. In Shiraki’s case, failing his mission. 

So what better thing to do than deal with what you got by revising the current state of affairs, and deal with the hand you’re dealt.

The previous gentleman that had collided with Shiraki had the misfortune of awakening his mind and recalling him of the fact that he particularly had the habit of leaving his guarding post to visit a girl in the nearest town. It was endearing for a joyous killer, actually. Takai was his name.

In the last month, with the spread rumors of suspicions of a spy among them, with his casual record of disappearance, Takai was utterly terrified. Acting according to everything demanded of him. Where you to ask him to bend and clean the whole installation by hand or knees even and he would do it with no reprisal.

In his efforts of portraying loyalty he may have not seen his acquaintance for what? The entirety of two months. He seemed in the break of losing something. 

Shiraki had seen the letters he wrote to her and didn’t dare send yet. If Takai only could work on his writing, as he did in his menacing look… Shiraki was thinking of how to do it best. Sending her those letters with a direction to the base with an intention of meeting her in person would force him upon surprise to protect her, upon discovery he would be caught and killed, her too sorrily.

Takai fitted the profile of a man stupid enough to do that. 

Of being gullible enough to do things of this nature for the promise of money.

Maybe think of another thing, some way to lure him out to her arms, therefore missing another post, all too soon after something of value was stolen. Returning with a smile to his death, it was better than he deserved.

Shiraki posed thinkingly as he looked at the reports and the turns. Smiling, he picked up an insignificant scroll of another matter, as if this was the thing he was searching all along, and left, not before making the guard laugh wholeheartedly when mocking the clothes of a man that just passed before them in the hallway. 

As he turned the corner he almost collided with the mentioned man, rather boy.

“Sasuke,” Shiraki said as he looked down at the kid in his new attire, quite presumptuous and arrogant to not wear a vest to protect you, with loose clothes instead, he thought. Sasuke was not his master nor one of the raikage, he ought to know that. All matters aside, Shiraki had not seen him here ever, “What are you doing here?”

Annoyed by the fact that Shiraki just dared to talk to him, Sasuke passed him by. 

Given that he was untouchable according to Orochimaru, he could not even portray a desire to venture into the boy for his lack of manners. His prick demeanour.

“Trying out the hot-springs collection,” Shiraki chuckled to himself as the boy slowed his pace in his adamant walk. Sasuke was easily teased, having himself in too much of a high regard.

In a matter of less than a second Sasuke was next to him, his arm rose, with his sword drawn upwards as it tried to reach Shiraki’s neck. His three dot sharingan activated.

The boy saw Shiraki undaunted and upon casting a genjutsu with his Sharingan became surprised when he shortly after eluded it. Looking down at the boy smiling.

“Get ongoing, boy. I think you have been too long without your leash, I recall Orochimaru-Sama whistling for you,” Sasuke was about to slice his throat when the man that just uttered those words disappeared before him. A clone, all that remained was mud running down the wall.

A provoking whisper continuingly sounding, bouncing on the walls.

Shiraki looked back, having lost the boy. There was no way of getting to Sasuke’s good side for now. The youngling didn’t desire any bonds. Shiraki knew Sasuke’s motivation and when planning on how to draw him, he realized that it would be for the challenge Sasuke thought Shiraki posed that the boy would pay him the least bit of his time. How handy Shiraki could come in his training to kill Itachi being the determinant factor.

Leaving him startled like that was a good start.

There was no scenario where if he told him who he was, his mother’s former teammate, he would come back to his senses.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


**Presently…**

In every house or dorm, even mind, there’s a place you are reluctant to look at during the night, afraid that in that hollow or dark space remains the embodiment of all that you’re afraid of, waiting to lunge at you. Lurking.

Where the most silent whisper or feel of movement makes you look away or tuck stronger in your bed sheets, as if they were a tool of comfort, protection.

Well, the shinobi world had one too many of those sites, yet this one was one where they shouldn’t take their eyes off, if they only knew where it was at. 

“I think you’re not grasping the urgency here,” Kakuzu interrupted for the tenth time. “I think we should...”

“I think you’re the one here that doesn’t grasp things, Kakuzu,” Konan said before the seemingly disoriented Kakuzu. It was rich, all this coming from him. Although she knew perfectly under whose orders he did it. “You’re the one that went after the seven tails out of the blue when I stated that we weren’t ready and somehow was defeated by a bunch of middle tier shinobi.”

They would not kill Kakuzu in response. What good could that do?

“I got the report of this man's attempt and what he gathered. It was far too good a chance to pass,” Kakuzu knew better than to blame Madara for this. As he talked he pointed out Hōichi's corpse, his chakra already extracted after a useless questioning.

“How did you get that information before my sources?” Sasori said, surprised because his info network didn’t warn him sooner of what happened, given that it happened in his birthplace, the place where he had the best informants. 

“Who cares?” Utter Deidara in provocation.

“Would you rather we address all this Kakuzu? You think what you managed is worth the risk you’ve taken? Worth losing Hidan?” Mentioned the voice in the dark. Only his Rinnegan is discernible. “Were you to have brought both the seven and the nine tails and it would be undoubted, but you were nowhere near out of arrogance.”

“That’s what we should address,” Kakuzu said, forgetting that last part, “They have him. We should do something about that.” He had no afterthought of his partner's health but the danger that him talking posed. The knowledge he had in the bounty network Kakuzu relied on.

“We are not gonna do such a thing,” Said Konan.

“And let them question Hidan?” Deidara questioned. It felt like they should be in a hurry.

“Have you talked to him about anything that should be of concern? If this once you did as told, what he knows should not be a problem,” said Konan. 

They kept Hidan in the dark, purposely, of much of the information and plans they had. His only care was for his killing, so when not needed they didn’t fill him in.

When first reading his records, and after seeing him in those first months of action, hearing Kakuzu’s reports, Konan acted. His demeanor was a risk, a wildcard. Every time he stepped on the field, with his rushing tendencies, he was likely to end up in the position he was in, captured.

The fear of being captured, for eternity, with no range or freedom of movement… Anyone could talk if given the chance. She warned Pain and Madara, good thing they listened for she was being proven right.

Hidan didn’t know of Amegakure, never had been there, nor many of the hideouts. Matter of fact, he had no clue of the contacts. He was not the sharpest tool, and his single-minded orientation was a plus for her plan. If tortured there were precautions put in place.

Without his knowledge and with a certain genjutsu specialist's help, they planted blocks inside his mind, those inspired in every body Pain had. Although more complex and dangerous if you were to venture in them.

A variation of a curse seal planted unconsciously in that fool, were he to talk, to even remember certain subjects and he would suffer, not die given his nature. But suffer. And it was all activated.

“He knows who each of us are, maybe not your abilities,” since he only saw Kakuzu and Orochimaru fight, “but he knows of mine and our appearances. The ritual of the extraction and the location of at least three of our hideouts. And no, I didn’t share with him anything of our economic structure, who funds us or who we have given money too. Nothing short. He knows the major goal of capturing all Jinchūrikis and… I… I think that’s it.” Kakuzu tried to recall everything. “Which is more than enough.”

“I concur. The prospect of being a captive for eternity is motivation enough for him to not shut his trap,” Deidara sided with the 91-year-old.

“As long as we relocate those two hideouts and we replace him I think we will be okay. It’s not like we haven’t done it before,” Argued Kisame, it didn’t seem like that much of a danger if he spoke. The shinobi forces already knew most of who they were and yet till now they weren’t capable of stopping them.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Konoha’s interrogation and torture force have a reputation that we would be wise to focus on. I know little about the Yamanaka clan, but if the rumors I heard about their mind abilities are true, then we should act,” Sasori warned, “Hidan is not hard to crack.”

Yes, he was.

Konan turned to Itachi, who was too quiet, even by his standards. Given who was guarding Hidan’s head and body… Her suspicions grew.

“What do you think of this, Itachi? Should we fear? After all, you probably know everything about them,” Pain asked, thinking like his companion.

“I do,” Itachi said with his undaunted tone.

“Then why keep quiet?” Questioned Deidara.

“I wrongly presumed you knew,” Itachi added.

“Be it the last time,” Pain said. There was no sense of tension reigning yet outside of Kakuzu’s for his failing and Konan’s when staring at the Uchiha. The leader resumed, “Tell us all about them.”

“It has not been that long since I saw them in action. They’re led by Ibiki Morino. Worry about the names because only three of them could be cause of worry if deployed. Ibiki himself, Inoichi Yamanaka and Aoba Yamashiro,” Itachi said. Without the Uchiha in their teams anymore, the rest were almost inconsequential.

“Why should they worry us?” Konan asked, implied was the question. If they could go past the safes they planted.

“The Psycho Mind Transmission technique they can perform can allow them to enter a target’s subconscious. During an enemy leader's pursuit we lost the trail but captured one of his soldiers,” Itachi shared his memory trip, “They liked to explain things as they did them, apparently they can even venture into memories the subject has blocked, even forgotten.”

Upon hearing that, most begin dealing with the fact that they had to intervene. The leading voice meanwhile only focused on Itachi, “Would you go if it was up to you?” Asked Pain.

“No. It’s too big a risk for the little information they will find.”

The opposition's voices erupted.

The discussion didn’t end there, but that last point endured the rest of the meeting, argued over the counterpoints. 

As the connection ended, Pain and Konan walked towards the principal building, not before noticing Madara beside them.

“For someone who likes to make the calls and not listen to anyone else’s, you’ve made a horrible one,” Konan said. 

Madara concurred silently, although sighed loudly. Before he could respond.

“This mess is yours, do you have a plan on how to deal with it?” Pain asked. 

“Not exactly. For one, Zetsu is trying to find where they are. As soon as he does, we will wait till they move him to act and ambush them. I have a place to store that senseless bastard if I don’t find his body.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a plan to me, don’t rush when we are not in such need,” Pain said, without showcasing worry or hurry. Hidan was their weakest member, so they ensured that the weakest link couldn’t be their downfall. “How do you know they will move him?”

“I simply do. If Kakuzu's report is right, they’re probably in the nearest hospital and with them the head. In the Sanin’s reach. As soon as he goes back with his jinchūriki and loses his sight on Hidan, we will get him,” Madara said with an acted sense of certainty before recalling. “Has Kakuzu told you about the boy’s sudden progress.”

Both nodded. It surprised them. Even Itachi’s eyes widened a bit in relative terms during the meeting. Underestimating their enemy’s in this manner was foolish.

“It would be wise if we kept our eyes on him this time,” Konan advised. “If it’s too much of a danger, don’t engage, you have already blurted out enough to the enemy.”

“Certainly,” responded Madara before excusing himself, “Now, pardon me, I have to search for Kakuzu, I would like to have a chat with him. Tell me if you find a replacement for Hidan, if not, I might have a candidate in mind.”

  
  


* * *

Impatience had a sound in function of the setting where it was displayed. Had it been in a studio and you would hear the utensils being swept off the table, something being broken. 

Instead, in this object free place, standing beside a window glass in another accommodated setting, like Tayuya’s although this one for interrogation purposes, all that could be heard was Jiraiya tapping his foot as he looked at the recently arrived crew of the interrogation unit struggling with Hidan’s head.

It had been two hours, and they had not been able to find anything yet. It was getting on his nerves. He was no impatient man, but they advised him to leave the room once his frustrations were hindering the work of those who were in deep dive through that madman’s mind.

They had asked Hidan at first. He seemed to be an idiot, shouting something about a guy named Jashin and a few more sentences. Not responding to anything they asked. It was a given in the crew’s mind. 

Jiraiya's fears grow.

Not knowing anything about Hidan’s condition or if he could die or weaken when dismembered, Inoichi advised trying to enter Hidan’s mind, to which Jiraiya accepted.

They had found nothing out so far.

Inoichi stepped out of the room, approaching Jiraiya, a bit scared if he was honest with himself. One fact that many forget of the Sanin, given that he is often outside the village, is his height and presence when angry. 

Outside the comfort that it brought to see him with his usually goofy self.

“What is it, Inoichi?” Jiraiya said without taking his eyes off the living head. Not grasping how this could be real.

“It’s more complex than we thought. His mind is… Is all messed up and sealed, protected. We can’t do anything from here. It's too risky.” Inoichi confessed.

“How long?” Jiraiya asked.

“I don’t know, a normal procedure of this kind could take a week, two or three days if we used the amplified machine in our quarters. I can’t tell you anything yet outside the fact this ain’t no normal case. We’ve to take him home in order to do anything,” Inoichi looked at Aoba, turning from Hidan and raising his hands as if he had no clue. He was the most proficient user of this technique, so if he had his reservations… “I only spent a few seconds in there, but I could already see worrisome bits. There are not only blocks. If there were traps and we were to fall for them, it could spell trouble,” and there were few too many capable of using that technique.

Jiraiya had a bad feeling about this.

“Do what you must, Inoichi, but this can’t be inconsequential. We’ve a fucking member of the Akatsuki here with no fucking way of escaping. There won’t be another chance like this, I grant you,” Jiraiya turned as he just dropped that weight on the seasoned Jōnin. “Don’t think there ain’t a clock counting down because he’s immortal, we’re not..”

As he turned, he didn’t even hear Inoichi’s response, although it was a formal one. 

Jiraiya walked back to Naruto's room. He was so fiery that if bothered or provoked he could spit fire with no hand signs. 

He almost did when someone tucked his robes when not capable of getting his attention when calling him for his name. Jiraiya was just three feet away from Naruto’s room.

“What the fuck do you want?” He questioned, with the rudest tone he could manage, as he turned.

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to with that tone?”

That voice! Jiraiya completely spun to the perpetrator of those words. Shock was not the word. When looking at her blonde hair and brown eyes...

“Tsunade!”

  
  
  


* * *

**Just a day ago...**

Tsunade was wrapping up her paperwork before departing with Konoha’s delegation towards Sunagakure first thing in the morning.

With so many of her young shinobi in the finals, it would be unwelcome to not do so.

When was the last three kages reunited? Not in a war setting.

Ōnoki had confirmed his attendance this very morning. 

Tsunade didn’t have him in high regard. His erasing technique, that particle jutsu of his, resumed his approach to problem solving. Were that problem to actually live and breathe and you have a dark turn worth of terrors. 

Her grandfather disproved the figure’s teacher, and her great uncle thought of him as an unwise figure in what related to ruling. A great shinobi but an awful ruler were Tobirama’s words. 

Seeing his record, she agreed. Reasoning, while something Onichi would claim aloud that he possessed while the rest didn’t, was not something he attended to. Ōnoki was part of no vanguard, but the very main keeper of the “old ways”.

She hoped that he was succeeded by someone better, not that it was hard. 

Shizune walked by with a full felt smile, lighting the tired and bored room. Tsunade did so too in response while looking at her with wonder and admiration. How she had enriched her personal life so much and found balance with the tiresome schedule she had was beyond Tsunade’s imagination. It was not Iruka only, but her growing bonds with old acquaintances and new. Anko, Kurenai, Yugao… Tsunade was indeed invited to take part and when her schedule allowed it, which was rare, she enjoyed herself… She just couldn’t find the balance.

In her mind she jokingly teased Shizune saying to her that it will wear off. She did not say that out loud because she didn’t want for that to happen. God knows that if anyone deserves all of this, it was Shizune.

When reading the reports she came upon a warning, a report of activities that happened near the Odo river. As she continued reading she swiftly decided what was to happen.

“Shizune, tell the delegation that we will leave sooner than expected.”

* * *

  
  


“You have a minute to explain yourself or may the gods save you,” she said in between her teeth. Rolling up her right sleeve.

“What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean, what I’m doing here?” Tsunade questioned, baffled. 

“I...” Jiraiya was so surprised that he didn’t know what to say.

“I got your letter, a report from one of the posts, and I had to pass this place regardless towards Suna. What was I supposed to do? Not come?” Tsunade was still waiting for Jiraiya’s answer. When Jiraiya looked outside the window, Tsunade sighed. “No Jiraiya, the delegation ain’t outside, not everybody knows where you’re at. Calm down. I know what the stakes are for god sakes.” You lunatic, she added in the back of her mind.

Jiraiya looked at her and tried to do as she said. He had been gruelling to others with his recent attitude.

“Who knows?” Jiraiya questioned.

“Outside of everyone involved in the action, the rescuers and the two squads you’ve asked…” She could go on… “Naruto is safe, they know he’s in the Fire Country, Jiraiya. It's unavoidable given what happened,” Tsunade said.

“How much have you been told?” He questioned again to her annoyance. 

“Almost everything along the way from that Onishi boy. Except, of course, the report coming from the two most important sources,” Tsunade said as her stare intensified. “I miss the reasoning and explanation to why Naruto was with some Shimogakure shinobi, how that came to be, how is it you’re here. And how in almost two months the only thing I received from you was a letter that said that you two were fine, in fucking code.”

Tsunade did not understand how she had been capable of not hitting him yet.

“You see..” Jiraiya raised his hands in defense. Not furthering or aiding his cause. The look in her eyes, she was disappointed, angry, and a bit hurt too. Disappointed being the chief ingredient in that recipe. “Let me explain, come with me.” He said as he led her to Naruto’s room, closing it as they entered.

Tsunade to manage appearances had to travel slowly with the delegation, not being able to lead Inoichi and the others to the place in question faster. It was the first time she had seen Naruto since they departed a year and a half back. 

He has changed so much.

“He’s grown taller than you,” Jiraiya said, smiling as she gazed at the boy quietly sleeping in the bed. Lightly bandaged. 

His case was one of bother line chakra exhaustion. 

“Already?” She questioned in disbelief. Having not seen the process. To think that loudmouth midget was no more.

Tsunade approached him.

As she looked down she saw his hair, and his broader features. His not so childlike face. 

“He looks so...” Tsunade started for Jiraiya to end.

“Different. Yes.”

“How is he?” She questioned with worry, although knowing that if he was in danger they would’ve called for her aid in a hurry.

“He’s been out since the fight, more than an entire day. He had a wound in his leg. By now you can check it, it's almost healed. He didn’t take that much damage. He lost a bit of blood, was exhausted, depleted after everything he had done. I heard most of what happened before we arrived and Kakuzu escaped. I’m waiting to ask him, but apparently he saved their lives,” Jiraiya said as he looked at Tsunade and her extended hand as she unwrapped the bandages to heal the wound finally herself. “He should wake up any minute now.”

“I want to know everything Jiraiya,” having been left for so long without needed answers… She found it troubling that they had to be face to face, her using this order tone for him to share the most subliminal thing. Just in case he didn’t grasp it. “Everything.”

“How long do you have before proceeding with your...”

“I have enough time,” Tsunade’s emotion filled stare was on him, telling him all he needed to know. Warning him he better answer and not try to get out of this. Not understanding why he should want to do that. 

Jiraiya silenced the room with a jutsu.

  
  


* * *

  
Naruto awoke in the middle of the night.

He raised his torso, realizing soon enough that he was in a hospital after glancing at the white sheets that covered him, the bandages on his leg after he lifted them.

It was dark, and no one was beside him. At least they had the decency to leave him some water on the side table. As he grabbed it, he could see in the glass a light being reflected. Turning to the door, he rose in worry, seeing it wide open, his fears of ghosts still not over.

Reckless as always, unbeknown of his own limits, he followed it, without bothering asking for help given that he never saw a trace of life in the first steps he took out of the confinement of that unpleasing grim room. 

It was a bright yellow light, rather fast for him to keep track of, but as soon as he lost it in the hospital, each time, it seemed to wait for him. He continued to track it until it stopped at the entrance of the Hokage office. 

He was unaware of walking that long of a distance. Matter of fact, he didn’t know how he even got to Konoha. He didn’t bother knocking. 

He entered in hopes of knowing what that was.

He reached for the knob and slowly began to open it, without asking himself questions. As the door opened, a noise, a rattle noise, familiar yet not placed somehow, after that a scream.

With force he opened the door at once, ready for whatever awaited him, or so he thought.

In the office two bodies lay at the ground, Tsunade and Jiraiya’s, ripped apart, limbs spread on the floor. Tsunade stabbed in the heart with the one blade she took before for him, while lifeless both staring at him, with tears and blood streaming from their faces. 

Naruto’s rage was uncontrollable. The second after he could already feel himself lose control, he couldn’t help but watch as his body seemed to move and transform on its own, the skin boiled and all features that resemble what he usually was vanished. 

His eyes move up front, above the bodies of those who showcase any love for him. In the picture he saw the Hokage chain turned, not facing him, and at the sides two lapdogs, Kabuto and fucking Sasuke. The moment he jumped towards them, something threw him against the wall with extreme force.

He didn’t double down, immediately ready to streak again. That was until he heard Orochimaru’s voice.

“He's here as you said he would, Sasuke,” He said as he turned. Nodding to Naruto, or rather above him, to those who just entered the room. Naruto was so obdurate in those in front of him he didn’t notice Itachi and Danzo closing the door behind him. Just as he turns to gaze at them, becoming shocked to see them here, he hears Orochimaru commanding. “Do it now.”

The second after, Sasuke swiftly was inches away from his face, with his three tomatoed eyed Sharingan facing him closely, directly. 

Shortly after an emotion, a phenomenon that couldn’t be explained in any other manner than in an emotion of emptiness and hollowness. Naruto found himself unable to attack any of them, his body remaining still. 

Their smiles widened beyond imagination to the rhythm of his angst and Orochimaru’s sudden percussion as he clapped with full joy. 

“The power of the nine tails is in our control,” Danzo said, smiling as he looked down at the quadruped, animal-like, Naruto.

A storm of laughter resounded before Naruto’s impending scathing.

“A shame. A true waste, all this power, and is caged in something so dull and unproductive. No more,” Orochimaru turned to see the village through the window, “This village has stopped my plans way too many times. Without their Sannin and their Jinchūriki, their days are numbered. They won’t stand in my way ever again. You’re free to keep what remains Danzo,” Orochimaru said as Danzo disappeared from the immediate picture, “Sasuke, you already know what to command him.”

Sasuke nodded. Vocalizing nothing, he directed Naruto, who felt he started moving without yet grasping how or why. He was truly lost and scared. He just grasped that his body moved, and he was helpless in the effort to stop any of it. 

Expeditiously finding it all inescapable, 

Not able of seeing at first, the only thing he could do is hear as a monstrous roar, that resembled no creature he had ever known or heard of, resounded, feeling the effort in his throat simultaneously.

The screams and the cries arrived shortly after in response, being each distinctive enough. Both children calling for their parents utterly terrified, sobbing with no control, incapable of finish their sentence out of pure horror, and parents pleading mercy and telling their children to not look up, saying embracing and warming things like “you’re going to be okay”, “I’m here, everything is going to be okay, you hear me”, or cries to silent ears as they all run away looking out for themselves “help, please somebody help”, “after him”, “monster”. A familiar lyric he has heard all his life, the second one that is, for he never heard the first. Why didn’t he?

Suddenly he felt his arm going through something solid without difficulty, hastily regaining his capacity to see clearly.

He stared at his fired arm and cried once he realized it went through someone rather than something. On the feet of that someone was the bloody face of a lifeless Shikamaru. It was Ino’s chest he stabbed without a second thought, her terror-struck face was replaced by nothing, absolutely nothing, those green eyes suddenly didn’t hold neither hopes nor love, even hate or fear, they were empty. Naruto couldn’t do anything but start crying and shouting non stoppingly for it all to end. As her body dropped, his sight moved right to a corner where a chubby teenager, Choji, was crying his heart out and not moving. Naruto realized as he inadvertently dawdled towards his friend, once again, that he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Banging on the walls of his mind. Pleading in it, warning and shouting, “Choji, move, please. Come on… Please, please. Move!” 

Before he could shout his name again, a blast that emanated below his eyesight disintegrated the poor boy. Naruto couldn’t look away.

Naruto was present but far away at the same time. He was there, he could feel everything yet act upon nothing. Never had he felt this. One by one, second by second, frame by frame, he endured the destruction of his home by his own hands. And one by one, and each one in a more terrified, gruesome and soul-crushing manner, he stole the life away of everyone he had ever known in the presence of the persons he was aware care for each one the most. Akamaru before Kiba, Lee before Guy, and Neji before Hinata. His eyes darkened and his soul broke time after time, after time.

The raw feeling of this unsayable abomination. To kill is hardly manageable, but to kill those you hold dear the most is indescribable. He was out of words, emotions, tears. He just wished to be stopped, killed, to think he could cause this pain and destruction... 

Just as he laid another lifeless body on the ground, freeing his feet from the rubble that fell down on him for the destruction he caused, when looking to the destroyed structure, in an alley that led to the still standing houses of the vicinity, he suddenly glimpse a trace of pink among all this mostly red. 

Running away, noticing a few of the hairs as she turned the corner.

Naruto prayed for the first time in his life, “let it be Kizashi, not her please, everyone but her,” as he pursued her route he saw her. “Stop, stop!”

She found an empty ally, drained and without chakra she turned to him, to face him, aware of who he was and therefore showcasing the most emotions. 

Naruto felt a tingling on his fingers. Run with the chance. He started to do, to be, to be something, to regain some power, at least enough to open a window for her to retreat or at least kill him. He seethed as he tried doing everything he could grasp. 

But he was nothing short of useless. 

She got in the stand and the moment she did, one of her legs crumbled, losing her balance; he had severely injured her. Nonetheless, she stood up, prepared to face him. In a flash, he forced her against the wall before reaching for her heart. 

She spit blood on him, each single drop evaporating on him. 

Her breath slowed and her mouth sang a silent yet acute cried of desperation and defeat. She looked him in the eyes and Naruto for certain felt like everything inside him rotted and died. When she uttered why and with it her last breath, he no longer had doubts and felt to his knees.

There may be a thousand people crying and running away, but as he grasps what he had just done, looking at her, he only heard silence.

A hand found its way to his shoulder, looking up was a smiling Sasuke and up above, on a rooftop a proud Orochimaru, in his elliptical, snake eyes you could see the reflections of the lights that came with the flames, and the thousands of lives it destroyed.

“Good job, Dobe. Didn’t think you had it in you. I have to admit this was overboard. I didn’t know what interests Orochimaru had in you, but believe me, I don’t have those doubts anymore. As a present, here, I untie you of my will,” he said like he was showcasing mercy, actual kindness.

Bringing his right hand to the height of his face, with both the index and the middle fingers raised, Sasuke released energy and with it the shackles that held Naruto. The second he did that, a consent and still possessed Naruto grabbed him by the throat violently, with all intentions to kill him. 

Rather than scared, Sasuke was comically inviting him to do it with an insulting smile. As if he knew he would not do a thing. He even taunted him. “Do it. What is one more, right? Look around you. Do you know how many people you killed today? Do you think this will bring you back none of them back? Sakura?” The moment he told her name, Naruto automatically broke his neck. 

Sasuke’s body disappeared. A substitution. “You are nothing more than a tool to harm and destroy. You have never and will never be loved, you are useful and convenient, nothing more. You can’t beat me, so don’t even try,” he said from the heights of the building.

In the scrap a shining thing cast a reflection, a sharp piece of glass. Naruto carefully grabbed it, and then he saw it. He saw his reflection upon the piece of mirror, his blood craving lustful eyes and savage features, along with 6 tails. All his body covered in the blood of his peers. 

With no diligence he grabbed it and pointed towards his own neck and drove it there with angered force. As he was about to hit it, committing suicide…. 

  
  


* * *

He woke. 

He woke up in some hospital room, not the one he seemed to lie upon each time he got hurt back then. Unlike the vicious and nervous movement that a dream like that awakens, he just opened his eyes as if not shocked to the core by what he just experienced.

He just had a sudden spasm kind of movement, imperceptible. 

He had that dream one too many times. Only new thing was Danzo's new appearance in the cast. Long gone were the times where he hyperventilated shortly after his eyes opened in the realm of reality. 

‘Sorry Kurama,’ Naruto said just in case he thought this was something against him, it was not. Kurama just huffed.

He heard two voices he would recognize everywhere arguing. Surprised of the second to be present given the circumstances.

“Don’t you think you’ve gotten out of this yet, you aren’t as alluring as you think. Besides, as if. I say frogs will grow hair before that happens,” their banter was interrupted by her chuckle, stopping Jiraiya from answering, as she just finished the set up towards a punch, “Oh wait, they already do, silver for that manner. Seen them, or rather him all my life. Predatory, lurking, not that good looking or smart now that I think about it. I mean, I saw him talk to his kind before non-stop. Seemingly being the less rational of all of them,” She laughs, well not alone, for Naruto was riding right along with her silently. 

He didn’t understand when none of this came from, but he found it charming. He attempted to not be noticed, so he didn’t disrupt this.

Jiraiya smiled at the eased tension, looking at her as he thought she must find herself amusing. He was thankful. Just ten minutes ago he braced at Tsunade as she made her best effort to not kill him, again. This time after confessing to her how he told Naruto of his parents, where, without furthering in detail and not rearranging the perception of history and of what remained in that place. He told her about it like it was just a stop, like any other ruins they encountered in their time. 

He was just at the half point of their story in the last two years, a heavy detail tale of their adventure.

Jiraiya responded, not in kind, sagely.

“Oh, funny! Look what a smile,” she blushed a bit at the man’s comments, his joyful tone. Jiraiya approached. “You see Tsunade, I would clap but we are not playing a fair game here, not only because this is not the first time you made that lame joke, but because if I dare opened my mouth and compared you to your summon animal, you will strike me the second after,” he gave her a stare that told her that there was no point arguing that, “You’re not fair.” 

Tsunade entered like she didn’t know him better. “What? How come? Come on, say something, I promised I will not hit you,” Her daring, enticing attitude, was not only painted in her eyes but upon each of her fiery characters, all known to him. 

‘No sir,’ Jiraiya wisely thought to himself as he just laughed. 

“Not falling for that, Tsunade. Besides, for once the so-called less rational needs to pace himself, for someone asked me to brief her on an entire year's story, telling each step if I remember correctly,” Jiraiya added.

“Mind if I interlude and tell another version?” Naruto said as he smiled at the two Sarutobi pupils. Each in shock as they spun to look at the boy raising and resting on both his elbows. Looking at them with a smile and a half-opened eye, “just in case he tells a perverted version of it.”

Tsunade approached Naruto and hugged him.

“How are you, Naruto?” She asked after realizing his voice deepened a bit. Seeing him conscious for the first time. She hoped he didn’t give up his revel and cheerful ways, not all of them.

Her mind told her that there was a fat chance of that happening as his smile widened and he called her by the name he alone had the guts to utter out loud.

“Ba-chan,” Tsunade smiled in response as he did. “I’m good. What are you doing here?” He questioned, he didn’t expect to see her till he returned.

“I was just passing by. Going to see the rest of your class and Gay team fight in the finals,” She confessed to Naruto as he opened his eyes surprised, as he recall.

He questioned Tsunade on it, and when briefed of all who succeeded, he smiled. As soon as he heard that Neji and Lee would fight he turned to Jiraiya to see if somehow they could watch it. Jiraiya shook his head. Of course not. 

‘Dammit,’ Naruto thought. Even pouted. That was one hell of a fight he could learn a lot from.

Seeing them interact was wholesome. Both chuckling at each other. They had chemistry. Jiraiya hated to put a stop to their banter, but Tsunade had confessed having limited time and he didn’t want people looking for her and noticing them; not briefing her on what was important.

“What happened Naruto?” Questioned Jiraiya.

Both Tsunade and Naruto stiffed a laugh forcefully, their demeanor changing in a matter of seconds after both turn, their smirks fading, to Jiraiya, noticing him serious and focused on the subject. Tsunade switched to her Hokage mod while Naruto saddened, having to recall briefly that Sora and Kegon perished… Fū!

“Where is Fū?” He asked as he fully stretched his arms. Ready to stand and look for her.

Jiraiya calmed the boy.

“She and Yōrō are on their way to their village accompanied by a whole Jōnin squad, Naruto. They couldn’t wait. She told me to thank you, to say for her how she cannot wait to meet you again,” He explained.

“And Tadashi and Noguchi?”

“Noguchi is dead Naruto, I’m sorry,” Naruto looked down again, cursing in his head as he had to lament another death. That meant Tadashi was alone, that he had lost both his teacher and his partner. He didn’t want to grasp what he must be feeling. “Tadashi is still recovering. A team will come for him, and the bodies, so they can be buried appropriately in the White Willow monument.” 

Tsunade didn’t foresee the action Naruto saw during this trip, neither did the boy or Jiraiya. All wanting to postpone facing the Akatsuki way beyond the ending of this journey. 

Naruto told them what happened from his eyes, the details they didn’t already know. From the first instance, what happened on Suna, to the encounter when he ambushed them.

There were some vital points of information in there.

“... The Suna traitor team was not the only team carefully watching Ero-Sennin. There was an Amegakure squad there, and it shouldn’t have. I reached Gaara and Fu because I eluded the rescue teams after the storm. Those three went out of their way too to get there. They didn’t approach the teams that escorted us to the tower either. Two girls and a boy, watching from a distance. I could distinctly sense them,” Naruto briefed, the sannins looking at each other.

Amegakure was an important part of their history. The birthplace of their titles, when they faced Hanzo, their leader, and survived. What interest could that old man have on the jinchūriki?

“Interesting,” Jiraiya solely added. “Any idea, clue?” He questioned the Hokage, who shook her head.

“I presume you don’t have one either,” when Jiraiya nodded she posed thinkingly. “There’s not been a single file in my table since becoming Hokage related to that village. I don’t know… It could be nothing.”

“Lets act as there was something. Hanzo is too old to be pulling a stunt like this,” Jiraiya added. “I concur that it has been quite in the last two years, maybe too quiet given their story.”

They made a mental note out of it as they told Naruto to proceed.

With the abilities exemplified, the way he used them and his decision making… As she heard those first minutes of Naruto’s briefing, Tsunade looked at Jiraiya. She had no clue that threatening her fellow Sannin to beat him was the boy to come back with only better control of his chakra would cause this.

This exponential growth.

Jiraiya told her when she asked earlier to not bother yet to upgrade Naruto’s status to chunin, not being nowhere near in the teacher's eyes for that of jōnin was she to think about it. The Hokage had fought alongside Jiraiya enough to see him in Sage Mode. If the boy had perfected it… He was no gennin. 

‘What has happened on that trip, really? To you two?’ She thought.

Jiraiya in that latter part recognizes Naruto displeasing with how he performed. Given the results. Like he was searching for his mistakes as he progressed with his narration. So far, Jiraiya could only pick two majors. The boy had done very well so far. 

That was till he told him he warned Shimogakure’s team and told them to run off. 

At that point, Jiraiya facepalmed. ‘You’re not ready to lead yet, Naruto. How do I make you understand this?’ The elder thought. 

...

“... and then is when you made your only true grand appearance,” Naruto said, mocking Jiraiya’s habit of praising himself as he entered the scene.

Tsunade smiled before looking at the boy’s jaw widened lightly. He was clenching it. His fists, too.

“You did good, Naruto,” Jiraiya stated. He himself couldn’t have done nothing like that at the boy’s age.

Naruto could hardly agree. He had only one explanation as to why they were still alive.

“He was toying with us.”

“Huh?” Jiraiya muttered.

“Kakuzu,” Naruto said, stating facts upon what he saw, “We only survived because he underestimated us. As soon as he saw the flare and realized that there were reinforcements coming, he destroyed us. It only took him five minutes,” when looking at the boy he didn’t seem hopeless, but frustrated. 

“Maybe there was no better course of action, Naruto. You can’t save everybody, although it speaks to your person that you tried so hard,” Jiraiya said solemnly, Naruto gave him a look in response, knowing full well that there was. “You were outmatched, severely so. Thanks to your actions four people got out of there alive, the Akatsuki lost a member and they couldn’t get their hands on Fu. Given the odds, learn to see things for what they are Naruto. You slowed them down, gathered information that you then shared to your team as you led them. Had the presence of mind to ask for help, highlighting your position in allied territory and endured till I arrived, defeating Hidan in the process and completing your mission,” Jiraiya was not gonna clap and kneel before every action Naruto committed, he just had to make him see things. Shikamaru himself couldn’t have come up with this because he didn’t have the capacities to follow such a script. “As I hear you explain things Naruto, I only see one major flaw.”

“Losing track of them and allowing them to surprise you,” Tsunade added.

“Exactly, you should have kept a clone at a distance so he could have followed them, therefore being able to update you where they were,” Jiraiya claimed. “That brilliant plan of yours could have killed anyone, Naruto. Anyone, but not those two. You had the info that Hidan was immortal and you rationally tested it, although doing things believing it was nonsense given how unlikely it was, been proven wrong. You engage them with the only mentality of stopping them and gaining distance, and it would be unfair to blame you for focusing on that rather than gathering more information with your clones given who they were. You beat the crap out of them, to the point Kakuzu lost two hearts, but you weren’t able to incite Hidan to show that ability of his nor realize that Kakuzu had that many chakra affinities. He just showed them to you because as you said he was not taking you seriously, which will not happen again.” Jiraiya thought better to leave the necessary and serious scolding about telling Shimogakure’s shinobi to disappear for later. If they didn’t stand their ground and remained, probably they would all be dead. Two jinchūrikis more in Akatsuki’s grasp. “Which should teach you to never do it, with no regard of who you are facing.”

‘So much for not being a better course of action,’ Naruto thought.

“We just have to keep improving, Naruto, as I said back in Mount Myōboku,” Jiraiya said.

Naruto was eager and ready to face the challenge, ready for the hard road, not giving up… All that stuff he already had interiorized, yet stopped to think back on one thing.

‘What does that mean, though. Reach your level?’ Naruto thought about Jiraiya’s speech after he defeated him the first time he used Sage Mode. Naruto heard Itachi warn Kizame that they should retire when seeing he was being guarded by the Sanin himself. If Jiraiya could inspire that, what fucking level Naruto had to reach, honestly. Two of the more fearsome shinobis and one had to warn the other they stood no chance.

“It’s a good thing we still have a year, and what? Two months more of training in our aim for that,” Jiraiya added.

They heard someone knocking on the door, interrupting their chat.

“I bet I know who they’re searching for,” Said Jiraiya as Tsunade went to open it. Looking sideways at the suddenly poking elder. 

She opened a bit of it to see who it was. When she saw it was a Jōnin from the village, she sighed. Telling him to wait a second outside till she finished with whatever was the matter at hand.

“I should be going,” She approached Naruto as he smiled, happy to see her at least this once. She reciprocated the effort. “I will see you then. Don’t forget about the wedding.”

“What wedding?” Asked Naruto as he rose to hug Tsunade.

“Iruka’s and Shizune’s. Didn’t he tell you about that?” She said as she gazed at Jiraiya.

“What?” Naruto screamed in shock. “What? How? When?” Repeating those three words for the next seconds, altering with no control of the order.

He could have never guessed. Naruto recalled Iruka blushing when he asked him how come he got to know Shizune during a dinner in Ichiraku they had before he left. 

Naruto made nothing of it, didn’t even notice anything outside of a quick stammering.

Tsunade started laughing. “Yeah, my reaction when they started dating was something like that.” 

Naruto’s head turns at blazing speed to Jiraiya, looking at him incisively. 

“Come on, Ero-Sennin, we can’t miss that. It’s Iruka and Shizune-neechan’s wedding,” Naruto could start to beg if necessary. He could not miss that.

For longer than they should with Tsunade needed presence, they argued.

“Sorrily we’ve to.” He said as the two people before him look disappointed, Naruto berating him and claiming he was going, regardless. “Naruto we have to disappear again, they know you’re in the country, we’ve to train and gain more time. I’m sorry.”

Tsunade knew better than to argue with Jiraiya and say that it was just a day. She didn’t want to interlude. She didn’t like this spoilsport, apprehensive and control freaked current version of him. It got on her nerves, just like in the old times. Jiraiya was a moody person and when he got on this one, particularly, she didn’t appreciate it.

Naruto argued to no avail, he was troubled with the idea of not being there in moments of such importance for the people he cared for most. When Tsunade told him he could send a letter, a gift even with the toads, Naruto curtailed his last point, begrudgingly.

There was one more thing he wanted to say. It rushed in his head as soon as Tsunade went to grab a hold of the knot. 

“Ba-chan wait!”

It was an inadvertent call. When his brain got a hold of his emotion he recalled.

“What is it, Naruto?” Tsunade asked.

He wanted to tell her that they were related, that they were family… He just recalled he couldn’t say it. Saddened by the fact. Jiraiya noticed. Not telling even her about the Uzumaki was something both promised and Naruto, till he could, will do his best to uphold.

“Wish everyone good luck,” Naruto portrayed a smile as he said that.

“Will do, Naruto,” Tsunade said as she opened the door. “Get stronger and stay healthy, you two.” As she closed the door, she told the Jōnin to follow her as she continued smiling, thinking on the back of her mind fondly ‘Idiots.’

She closed the door behind her. Jiraiya was about to give Naruto a sympathetic look, knowing full well what Naruto wanted to say when he just noticed him smiling directly at him.

“What?” Jiraiya asked, puzzled.

“Oh, nothing,” Naruto said with a grin that Jiraiya didn’t know where it came from. “Glad to see Ba-chan is all.”

Jiraiya hummed. Something was on Naruto’s mind, the brat was having a good time at his expense.

“Where off to now?” Naruto asked.

“Not so fast, I have things to take care of. I have to brief the squad that will secure Hidan’s peaceful travel to Konoha,” Jiraiya said, before reaching into his pockets. “Meanwhile, you look at this, it should light you up even more, I will tell Tadashi where you’re at.”

Naruto was handed a letter.

“Burn it after you read it,” Jiraiya said as he left the room.

“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto said dismissively as he opened it, searching for the name of who sent it.

‘Miwari!’ Naruto shouted in his head. He was expecting this letter. She had ventured into the continent, near the frontier of Konoha with a sole purpose, the fulfillment one Naruto’s request. The letter started like this, “I’ve solved it...”

Naruto raised his fists in celebration. ‘Yatta, I love you Miwa, you’re a genius.’  
  


* * *

  
  


Jiraiya marched back to the room where Hidan was, and in the corridor noticed the person who he personally requested led this retrieving team.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to talk to him, Kakashi,” if there was one person Jiraiya trusted to be secretive about it, it was this man.

The famous Jōnin looked up from his read to stare at the Sannin, noticing the rest of the team leaving the room ready to depart.

“We will have plenty of time for that,” Kakashi added as the team formed to listen to their orders, “Trust that you have trained him well.” He whispered that last part.

Jiraiya smiled, stifling a belly laugh, looking forward to Kakashi’s firsthand experience of the boy’s progress as Naruto faced him, fueled with a bit of resentment for not telling him who Kakashi’s sensei was to him. 

“Oh, you have no idea.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


**Somewhere in the continent, in a hideout previously visited...**

You could hear fists colliding. 

Sasuke was having a sparring session with two massive shinobis that at least doubled him in weight and height.

Not that it matters, given the difference in speed and his Sharingan capacity to trace their movement. 

He was in the middle of two of them, both looking to strike him simultaneously, rather than jump away he awaited till the two of them were close enough, and leapt, kicking the two of them in the head with some unbelievable move mid-air.

As he landed he didn’t give them time to breathe, striking at each precise blow that knocked them down.

He didn’t even break a sweat.

He heard Orochimaru clapping in the background, the sun behind him, highlighting his figure.

“Well done, Sasuke-kun. Your reflexes, your taijutsu, are beyond many Jōnin,” Orochimaru said as the boy wandered off. Rather than let him, he called for him one more time. “You still have one last match.”

Sasuke turned to the door, saw a man he rarely ever saw entering. Kabuto going to the mentioned entrance and laying on the side of it. As in covering it. Sasuke questioned what was going on.

“Now, Takai here will be your last opponent Sasuke,” Orochimaru smirked darkly. “Be both aware that only one of you will walk out of this alive. This is a death match.” He simply put.

Sasuke frowned. What was that snake playing at? As he activated his sharingan, he saw this Takai man standing there shocked. Orochimaru’s stare was not one that invited questioning nor to think he was joking. Sasuke saw this doubt-filled man turn to look at the door behind him as Kabuto stood up and occupied the middle of it.

Takai rotates to Sasuke, giving in to the situation they forced him into. Only a couple of words utter in surprise, what and why. Both incomprehensible as they left his mouth.

Lunging at the undaunted Sasuke Takai tried to land a blow, he was fast but not fast enough, when throwing a punch Sasuke eluded it, deviating the path of the next incoming with his forearm and landing two punches on Takai before this one retrieved.

Takai forms some hand signs.

“Water Style: Water Cannon Jutsu” Out of his mouth, projectiles of water aim at the Uchiha.

Who again eluded them, not before blasting with his fire the last one, the one that had just been performed and was two feet away from Takai, creating a small window.

Aware, Takai tried with slightly reduced visibility to counterattack Sasuke’s moves.

A pinching pain arrived before any punch. As he tried to move, he couldn’t.

“Chidori Senbons: Needles of a Thousand Birds,” Sasuke had hit the man’s pressure points with lightning needles? Takai had never seen that move before.

Takai grunted. That not being a source of surprise, the sound was expected, what shocked all the present was where it emanated from, from Sasuke’s right rather than the man that appeared before him.

“It is always that tiresome jutsu,” Sasuke said from behind the original person. A hoarse voice that elucidated how fed up he was with that move.

Takai vision cleared, realizing it was all a genjutsu, the moment he stared at those eyes at the start… One second before he was going to ambush the confident youngling as he was focused on a clone and the next one he was the one surprised. 

The real Sasuke was not before him but behind him, his senbons hitting him, too. They already faded but their effect remained.

As Takai turned his head, expecting death, he found a punch instead coming to his head. 

Knocking him down, unconscious as his head bounced upon the first touch with the floor.

Orochimaru notices Sasuke turning his back to the man. Erasing whatever smile the elder had shortly after seeing his apprentice performance.

Sasuke realigned his clothes as he restarted his path to his quarters, this once with no care for any of Orochimaru’s orders to not do so. This training was pointless, rather read on something of use than this.

“Sasuke, you are defiling the point of this exercise, kill him,” Orochimaru commanded with an angered face, to no avail. The teenager just brushed off whatever he claimed. 

“I’m not your puppet,” he passed Kabuto, not bothering to look at him as he interposed in his way, for he had already done it without the medic realizing it, planting another genjutsu on him. ‘There’s other people I want to kill.’

He disappeared.

Both Orochimaru and Kabuto approached Takai. 

Kabuto knew better than to point out the Uchiha’s behaviour before Orochimaru, this one being blind to the danger the boy posed. He just cursed him in his head.

“Are you sure it was him?” Orochimaru questioned.

Kabuto nodded, “Money, lists, I found everything. Very well hidden… A list of meeting places and our plans. He apparently left his post time and time again. The times fitting with Konoha’s attack on our retrieving parties...” Kabuto trailed off, happy with his work. “And yesterday he vanished again. Shortly after one of our scrolls in medical ninjutsu disappeared, you know which one. I followed some clues and found a hiding shed nearby, and in there the scroll.”

Orochimaru didn’t need to hear any more. He killed the man where he laid, didn’t bother to savour his dread as he waked, killing him while conscious… The Sannin had no time.

“Don’t rest on your laurels, Kabuto.”

“I won’t.” Kabuto added just because.

Of the people that came to clean the mess Sasuke had managed, the bodies lying around, one of them was Shiraki, who noticed the only one fatal victim.

He didn’t know if to celebrate silently; he had to give up his own shed for this to happen, after cleaning a bit of it. It was the best idea he could come up with, not needing much of what it stored anymore. He could not search for a replacement, though.

As he picked up one body, he speculated. With Takai’s death, he was cleared for a bit of time. Better to not raise many eyes now and focus mainly on Sasuke without causing suspicion for the upcoming months. ‘I’m sorry, Jiraiya-sensei, you are on your own.’ He had already kept his bargain and complied with his sensei's last two wishes.

The thought of what happened, noticing the mortal wound on the man’s body, motivated Shiraki. He had eyes on the whole affair. 

It was not Sasuke that ended him. ‘Maybe there’s hope after all.’

* * *

  
  
  


**Back in the hospital…**

Naruto barely limped when walking. He was almost fully healed, he just lacked a good meal. Bad thing he was ordered to not leave this room. He read the letter once again, may be the tenth or the eleventh time by now.

He just couldn’t believe it. 

Who better than Miwari to do this, to find out how the curse mark worked and how it could be erased. The fucking curse mark!

He jumped up and down. The part where one subject died or the part of how they got those subjects in that first place didn’t figure in there, so the words that did figure in the letter had an upbeat tone to it. 

Naruto wants to thank her personally. She was back safely at the island with Ashira, who accompanied her, not having been noticed according to their claims. 

Writing something along the lines of “three months, it was child’s play”, as if dismissing what they accomplished. She better not say that in Konoha to some of their elite forces, might feel insulted after years of trying to do just that.

Thank Jiraiya too, since he was the major contributor, the one who orchestrated it all. The payment he offered for that service? To do something Naruto would have asked him to do nonetheless. Use his network to trace the Uzumaki left in the continent, adding to the mentioned network the contacts New Uzushiogakure had here all along.

His joy and cheer prolonged. At the top the techniques he wanted to learn reign whatever that marvelous genius, in his words, had developed. Over mixing his chakra affinity with the Rasengan and ending developing another major jutsu he had in mind. 

It was a welcomed sight to see the boy that pleased given all that occurred, his demeanor dimming a bit that last month. 

It was just the picture of his old self. In his happiness fest he didn’t forget to incinerate the letter. 

He couldn’t help feeling like he was forgetting something. He didn’t have to wait long to realize it was someone, rather. He heard a knock on the door to interrupt it all. As he approaches, he stated who it ought to be.

He opened the door to Tadashi. The radiant smile disappearing before just out of touch, awareness. What to say? He couldn’t picture himself losing Sakura or Sasuke and Kakashi both on the same day… And Tadashi and company were older, so they shared more time together.

Tadashi smiled sincerely as he put a hand on Naruto’s shoulder before going past him.

“I’m sorry, Tadashi.” He said as he closed behind him. Given the circumstance, it should be him going to Tadashi’s room instead of this.

“You should be,” responded in between chuckles, disorienting the blonde. “You’ve heard?” Tadashi walked to the window. He was covered in bandages all over. Maybe he should not be up. Naruto nodded as his brief partner looked out. “Don’t worry Naruto, I’m not here to berate you or anything like that, although maybe you’re one of those who wants the blame upon his shoulders to punish himself. Get off on that.” Tadashi didn’t think it was the blonde’s fault.

Naruto shook his head before sitting next to him. 

“What happened?” Naruto questioned, he was facing Hidan when all happened.

“You saw Noguchi, right? He didn’t survive his injuries,” Tadashi briefed before turning to the next chapter, “In what regards to Sora… I… You know what’s fucked up?” 

Naruto added nothing, given the last hours he had many things from which to pick from. And knowing he was not to respond…

“I was aware of all that was happening. I was trapped in the rubble but I was not out those first moments, I’ve heard Sora’s fight and him finally pleading for his life,” Tadashi sat down, trying to catch Naruto’s gaze as it fell down. “He was always the bravest, that little fucker. No matter how fucking scared he was, which was most of the time, if the motives and the persons he was doing it for were worthy enough, he would try to cast those fears aside and fight for that cause. While trembling, always managing to not be blinded by that fear. I always admired his capacity to en...”

“Endure,” Naruto added by inertia.

“Despite the overwhelming odds, yeah,” Tadashi said, chuckling. “Noguchi-sensei was like him in that ultimate sense, fighting for just causes. Having fought in wars for little more than my country’s interest in riches, later realizing they were the bad guys and that those who they dehumanize were just innocent people caught in a fire that should have never been lighted up… Talking about how if he had to die, he would cherish being for something he believed in… I mean, he chose this,” Much to Naruto’s fear. “I look at his words and maybe find the meaning that he searched for.” He paused. “I hope I don’t have to make a speech for their burial…” They all felt hollow, without meaning for Tadashi, the moment he heard gods or spirits they lost him. “I’m not a believing person, I don’t know what I would have to say in one of those things. Talking below the White willow monument with both’s coffins opened, saying something about an afterlife where they will find the fulfillment they did not in this life, that they turn into energy… I guessed that brings people closure or ease, but I can’t honestly speak about any of that. I don’t believe any of it.” Raising his stare, he asked, “Do you?”

Naruto didn’t, actually. “No.” It was not a topic he argued much about, it was just an internal feeling. He had never worshipped in any shrine.

“Big help you are then,” Tadashi mockingly said, furthering Naruto’s unease. What was with all the smiling? Tadashi continues to mock the recurrent speeches given in these affairs by reciting them in mocking fashion, “What is the point then? Then claiming after that that because they’ve died for a just cause their lives therefore had worth, like we shinobi only find fucking meaning in that death and how glorious it is, instead of years of fucking fight, of love…” Naruto added the words bonds. Tadashi refused to believe it, he was not alone in that. “Death is a part of life, but I can’t see how being no more could cause celebration. To bask in the word legacy? Give me a break.”

Naruto looked at it.

“In one of Jiraiya’s books one of his characters says that the true measure of a shinobi is not how he lives but how he dies. It’s not what they do in life but what they did before dying that proves their worth,” Naruto thought of it at first as asinine. It might be as a shinobi, but not necessarily as a person. They were something beyond just warriors. “I can’t help but oppose it. I presume that sentiment might come given that if we have to live by what this world preaches, what we are ordered to, it is upon death and when facing it, when we prove alone who we are, upon our only choice of facing it instead of running away, how and for who we did remained and face the end. If I have the choice and the capacity I will rather fight alongside those I care that die for them. Striving to be strong enough to ensure that first scenario.”

“For those who suffer are the ones that remain,” Tadashi added. He jokingly liked to quote the line that being stupid was just like being dead, it was only painful for others. He felt that now. “If only it was that easy. If we had that much power for who we sacrificed. When.”

Naruto conceded. What he wouldn’t do for those he cared about? For Iruka, Tsunade… Sakura. Even Sasuke.

They were just venting with not much knowledge of all there was. Didn’t have that much experience or emotional intelligence to deal with the matter at hand. 

“Yeah, don’t think they can give much of a fuck anyway,” Tadashi said, raising his hands to his forehead, resting both elbows on his knees. Rising his stare shortly after. “I rather think that what is left is to celebrate the time they had, for as brief as there was. If not for anything for their families, to be able to move on since you cannot change what happened. Continuing to work so that no one has to suffer that anymore, continuing even if we occasionally fail.”

Tadashi looked at Naruto. Both resumed talking. Vengeance shortly mentioned without a violent tone, just a plea. They didn’t necessarily have to honor their comrades' lives, not because they did that themselves, but because Tadashi and Naruto didn't know what they were. If it was up to simply reproduce that punctual vow to protect Fu and therefore the world, then they were both on board. But what they did have to do was to restore a timeline where Sora’s heart was within his actual killer, giving him life as he continued to destroy lives. They had to free it, even doing so by destroying it. It withering in unison with the rest of Sora’s body.

They trailed off for minutes, hours as they amounted. During them they talked about what Tadashi would do once he got back, his plans for the future, what he wanted to become. A jōnin promotion and a position in Konade’s main squad, ready to aid Naruto if the Akatsuki threatened the world, being first in line to kick their ass back. The topic of Naruto’s side promptly appeared. Tadashi questioned the blonde if he was going to become the lone wolf, wanderer type of shinobi like his sensei. Naruto didn’t catch much of a mocking tone there, he really had left the wrong impression on them.

He refused the mere idea. If he was who he was was because of the people that were there for him. If it could not be helped, if their safety relied solely on him not being in the village, then he would act accordingly. If not, and they could lead with what he attracted as a team… He would rather fight alongside friends than alone. Wanted to give them their call, having all progressed in their own way, scared to death of making Sakura’s decisions for himself and what she could do when aware.

Just like he hoped they acted as if somehow they faced something that resembled his case.

Besides, he needed an outside and different perspective that questioned his own during his path before he became so self righteous to realise that he was wrong, that like in many occasions in history, those with unmovable motives, while them laudable and worthy, can cause the most damage when they pursued them. He recalled the saying that hell is filled with good intentions. The chance of becoming a type dictator himself and imposing peace… Fuck no!

They resumed talking for two hours, till Tadashi called it a day, wanting to rest before a complete day of travel. Almost decades with no Konoha and Shimogakure interactions… They realized that it will be long before they meet each other again.

They acknowledged each other, their abilities, the hope to meet in better terms and upon the most likely chance they didn’t, that they were ready for the challenge as older and more capable men. Changing the course of what happened this time. Tadashi warned Naruto of what came with his abilities and prowess, what that entailed, the dangers that would gravitate around him. Wish him luck.

Offering him his hand, Naruto reciprocated Tadashi, nodding seriously at first and smiling as they ended that. It was the least thing Naruto could do. 

Tadashi left and Naruto slept.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


**The next morning arrived…**

Naruto washed his face, helping him regain his senses. Eager to leave the hospital. As he, automatically, went to grab a hold of some robes he remembered he had none outside of the hospital’s. His Shimogakure ones were broken.

Ah!

He had stored his previous ones in a scroll, clearing the bed to put the scroll on it to make them appear. The sun had already risen. He knew well that Jiraiya ought to be in his way. Any minute now... He picked up his pants.

He then heard someone knocking on the door. Again. Erupting shortly after without him answering. He was just in his underwear.

“Are you already dressed up,” Jiraiya said as he raised his sigh from a scroll he was reading, when seeing Naruto just standing there, “What are you doing putting those on, and not fully dressed? Come on! Didn’t you notice them?”

“Huh?” Naruto was not at his brightest.

“Would you look at your left baka,” Jiraiya said as he pointed to a table in front of the bed. On it was a full attire.

As Naruto reached for the clothes, he asked, “What’s this?”

“A present,” Jiraiya responded.

“I don’t turn fifteen in like two months,” Naruto responded as he picked it up, liking it.

“Think of it as an early present, then,” Jiraiya said.

“Thank you, Ero-Sennin,” Naruto sincerely said. While putting them on he asked to see if they fit, “Where are we going?”

“I think we’ve traveled enough already. Sulk in the view because we are getting out of the continent.” Jiraiya stated like he couldn’t wait. It had been quite the frantic stay.

He continued briefing as Naruto cleared his things and organized them, both setting their feet in motion as they took the road again. 

“Anything you’ve in mind to train in first?” As Jiraiya asked and saw the boy’s face, having read the letter, “Beyond that.”

“In surpassing your Rasengan,” He replied to the elder smile. 

“There will be time for that,” Jiraiya looked at the horizon and then to the boy with a smile and a weird joyous tone, awaiting tone, “Say, are you and Kurama ready to train together or you’ve not reached that level yet?”

Naruto subtracted to his subconscious and just waited for Kurama to answer, knowing full well he heard. 

Seeing he didn’t answer.

“Well?” Naruto enticed the furball. Who snorted, creating a current that rearranged Naruto’s hair and actually make him realize that the giant’s breath did not smelt. 

Kurama only opened one eye, Naruto could swear he saw him smile. He asked Naruto to trust him and he did so with no doubt about it; it was honest. Some progress they had obviously managed…

 **“We ain’t there yet, boy,”** Figures. Naruto fell to the floor rather than facepalmed. They may be both knuckleheads. Kurama did smile while the boy cursed on the floor. **“Which doesn’t mean we ain’t getting closer, Uzumaki Naruto.”**

Naruto raised his head and jumped, just when he was about to shout out in happiness, as Kurama's face rose with both eyes opened warningly, staring at him, he doubled down and celebrated more quietly. 

This was a milestone in their journey.

As he came back to reality, he didn’t hide his smile, only thinking about the chance.

“There you go again with those smiles. Are you sure they cleared you? You certainly hit your head hard,” Jiraiya provoked as the boy at first didn’t respond.

After saying that, Naruto was ready to give Jiraiya a piece of his mind.

“Will you get off my back!” He shouted out in desperation.

“What? You were trailing off again, it ain’t a good habit to pick up, you know.”

“You just ask me that question, what did you want me to do?”

“Give a straightforward answer.”

“You know you’ve been a pain in the ass for the better part of the month. If you keep this pace, I’m gonna tell the counselor how it is that she feels she has met you before.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Sleeping with her and then disappearing. Quite the example for your students,” that had to be the definition of a dick move.

“No, please don’t.”

“Then chill.”

…

Their banter continued as they disappeared as they climbed down the hill. Their voices distancing till you could not hear them.

Continuing with the latter part of their journey, that last chapter of their travels before stepping on this land again, whether they like it or not, causing a stir unlike any other this shinobi world had seen.

Till then...


	12. The New Ranks

The road is no one's friend in the shinobi world. Matter of fact, those travels were one among the ever declining reasons for shinobi to exist, to guard them from the recurrent troubles to encounter.

Be it not every single path taken, but be it almost surely likely for any of the Kage, at least outside their borders.

Their long history of commands, directives, the consequences of each taken and not taken, procrastinated till too late; and the wide knowledge of their appearance was a hindrance for the hope for a joyous and simple stroll along the views other countries offered. Towards the diplomatic councils they were scheduled to attend.

That being the case too for great ninja, the major names in the Bingo Book, printed within those pages their look and appearance, their abilities and known history, the literal price for their lives.

The rancor that their actions ignited was such that some villages, or punctual individuals or groupings in ire and seeking vengeance, will attack out of stupidness, not solely forgetting what a diplomatic mess entails such course of action, but that they were facing one of the strongest shinobi of their time.

If they listen to themselves before acting, many would slap themselves for how stupid they sounded.

Ambush was a word usually used when warning the Kage as they were about to leave their villages, emphatically repeated to the crew that surrounded them and protected them.

Tsunade had already reached Suna with the delegation with no altercations, protocol was followed and after the proper formalities they were already set and accommodated in the village, both Kage's still waiting for the latter of their kind to make an appearance.

His was a longer journey, magnified its difficulty due to his age, although with his size and weight he could perfectly be carried, like a child, though Tsunade with a smirk rather than a fit of laughter.

She hadn't reunited with the genin partaking in the exams yet and she wasn't too, not till the end of the exam.

She found herself with Gaara and her brothers in a major hall, accompanied by her guards, one of them excusing himself for a moment. Talking about attracting ill intent, if there was a place she avoided in her travels, it was this one, not only for the lack of attractive destinations and overall vibe, but because if she could pinpoint where she was loathed or dislike the most it would be this place, for her main role in the war.

"I say we have much to talk about?" Gaara inquired with a tone that Tsunade didn't catch.

"Certainly. Before that, though, any word on the Tsuchikage?" She asked.

"He will arrive promptly, passed the border already," Gaara confessed.

"Be ready, while he will probably be as proper and affable as humanely possible, the second after he will take joy in bemusing you and incite your discomfort because of your age. The old geezer will look down on you." Funny given that Gaara was at least three times Onoki's size. "He can't help himself. You are a contrast to the basic principle that has ruled our time, for kages to be seasoned shinobi, widely known names forged in times of war," Tsunade warned.

"I presumed that was likely," he had already experienced that with his own council. "I doubt his treatment could be more irksome or disrespectful than the showcased these past months with my village by not responding to our letters," All treaty commercially related was signed between the Daimyos, with no interactions or say of his village. Gaara was aware of the position he was in. "Let's hope it goes more smoothly that we both have in mind."

"Yeah. I'm really curious as to why he's here. Two of his shinobis in the final don't seem like enticing enough for his arrival," She claimed.

"I don't think that's the reason, Ma'am," Temari said while posing thinkingly.

Tsunade looked at the girl. She heard about her from Shikamaru. She hoped that both Temari and Kankuro weren't Gaara's guards and advisors for nepotism related reasoning rather than the abilities they had shown. By the matter of them being the only ones the young Kage could rely on. What a worrisome scenario would that be then.

"I concur," Gaara added, linking the three's trains of thoughts, Kankuro's in another lane to those conversing.

"Ain't to follow that prodigy of theirs? That Mizumitsu Rinori kid's raiton affinity is developed way beyond his years. He's ruthless. The prospect of seeing what could be a future Jōnin beating other village's shinobi seems enticing to me." Added the puppeteer, recently made Jōnin of the Sand.

"It's plausible, but unlikely," Tsunade raised her hand to her chin. "This is the closest the shinobi world has had to a Kage meeting in the last 10 years. Maybe he thought like us and saw fit for us to converse. That's where his mind is ..." Tsunade was interrupted, having to divert her attention to the suddenly appearing shinobi, Genma, crouching at her side, who whispered as quietly as he could. "Excuse me for a second Kazekage," Gaara nodded in response to Tsunade's plea as she stood up and put distance between them.

"The retrieving team has made it," Genma stated.

Tsunade took a breath of relief.

"Any encounters?" She asked.

"Kakashi said they were being followed. Reportedly they did not engage Hokage-sama. They outsmarted and outmaneuvered swiftly a Kakashi's clone that was following the moment he sensed their presence. Not face, no trace, nothing. He says he just caught sight of a red cloud, although he wrote he could be mistaken," Added Genma.

He could be mistaken? Not used to this degree of imprecision from Kakashi of all people.

"No casualties?" when Genma confirmed that indeed there weren't with a gesture she turned away from him to their allies. "Good job. I want a report before midnight and send a letter to Shizune to investigate it. I don't want anyone outside of a list of few people to see it or know of it, we will keep it in the dark for now." Away from someone's claws. The remaining member of the Hawk Faction.

She had to come up with an encoded name for this entire operation. Guillotine maybe…

Genma nodded and took a step back. Both he and Raidō, core members of the Guard Platon, backtrack as Tsunade takes her seat.

"Anything to share, Hokage-sama?" Asked respectfully Temari, respectfully as possible given her intrusive inquiry.

"Hum" Tsunade murmured thinkingly. No, she wasn't about to. She was not in a position to share that here. They might be close allies and on good terms, but Suna's leaked prone tendency was a deterrent for ever sharing something as recent as that. Hidan was to remain a secret, the rest though... "Apparently, one of your saviors, the girl from the waterfall ran into a pair of you know who, she escaped unharmed. Aided by her companions, they had casualties, but both are okay."

"I'm glad," Gaara sincerely said out loud. Knowing who those two were. "I would like to talk more about it if we could in my office."

"I'm afraid that will have to wait," Tsunade stated as she invited Gaara to turn around and glimpse at one of his shinobi running towards them, almost slamming the doors as he went through them.

"The Earth country delegation is arriving!" He warned.

What was with this overly excited boy's rush? Some of the members chuckled, Gaara himself didn't give it much thought as he stood up.

"I will go meet our other guest at the entrance. Meanwhile, please, enjoy," Gaara said as he took his leave. Dissipating in sand.

This Kazekage had left a good first impression on Tsunade so far. Looking at her subordinates, she called for one of them.

"Hoheto, go meet the genin teams teachers and ask them about how things have fared so far, meet me once you're done," She ordered.

The Hyūga simply nodded and left as well. Her two guards approach her seconds after, unease in Raidō's face. None of the present Konoha shinobi had good experiences with Iwa, not precisely welcomed the fact of having to deal with them.

Good thing Tsunade looked past it, had to due to her task.

"How do you think this will go, Ma'am?" Raidō asked as all stared at the door, like they were already staring at the sequence of events to happen.

"I wouldn't bet on smoothness, that's for sure. Don't take your eyes off boys, we don't want to miss this," Tsunade said as another shinobi of the Sand approached them.

"If you could accompany me, Hokage-sama. Gaara-sama thought fitting for this reunion to happen in the Great Hall."

They complied.

Again, this didn't come out of some jingoism, but Suna's was not Tsunade's cup of tea. Even the corridors were gloomy. The architecture is homogenous, except for the place they were about to venture into.

As she entered the room where they were professedly meeting, she could hear the Tsuchikage laughing and the words cheeky young rascal uttered. 'He didn't wait a second,' she thought.

Thank goodness for the young man's demeanor, if only his brother lived the part and didn't print his resentment in his face before a Kage… Temari meanwhile appeared composed as well.

It surprised Tsunade to see who was beside the Tsuchikage's side.

'Kitsuchi!' One of Iwagakure's brightest and most known shinobi, third in the command chain if she recalled right. Funny enough, Onoki's son-in-law. A tall, dark-eyed, and bearded man wearing Iwa's standard uniform and a bandanna style forehead protector.

The geezer had seemingly brought the big guns.

She recognized Gari from the explosion corps as well, not as vividly as Genma, who fought him in a skirmish and was doing his best to not clench his jaw.

Who the other big and chubby man was, she had no idea. The size of his head was almost farcical.

Making way, she interrupted. "It has been some time, Tsuchikage," she said as all fully turned towards her.

"It has, Princess Tsunade." He said looking up. The wonderment of that woman barely seeming to age a lone day since the last time they encountered, who knows how long ago... "Hardly difficult to recognize you."

"I bet," She added. "I hope your travel has been bearable."

Onoki caressed his back just thinking about it. "It was easy. I needed a trip like this," all his companions looked in different directions, some daringly laughing. "Wouldn't have bet for you to take the mantle of Hokage all things given, although with the rate that title changes… I'm sorry for what happened to Hiruzen. Rare to see the states of affairs after that. Surprised you moved past what happened."

The snarl that this man invited in the words uttered in response. Three lines and he was already on her nerves.

"I wasn't expecting you to be here either, yet I'm glad to see how the ravages of time have not changed you a bit, your personality I mean. One could hope for change at times, I would entice you to try it. I am not one to attribute progress and innovation automatically to young blood, but daringly I would never attribute it to the old given the record they have shown through decades," This was not a battle of wits, but why not indulge and go down to Onoki's level at least one time.

"Haha," Onoki laughed in between chuckles. "Etiquette seems to not be either's forte."

"And here I was hoping you said our," Tsunade said with a smirk as the tension rose among the protectors, who were by the nature of their position apprehensive. "I presume your sass and condescending tone have already impregnated everyone present here?"

"Just a punctual claim, no ageism coming from my side," Onoki started with a smirk of his own. "It's unusual to hear of a Kage so young. Only Yagura surpassed the Kazekage in that regard and we all know how all fare with that one."

Kankuro's face reddened while Gaara remained undaunted.

The war on the Land of the Waves had finished just a month ago after too much bloodshed and resentment inspired by the child Kage. A new one was "crowned" and a new philosophy implanted.

Hard to believe, given their long traditions, culture and created ethos.

"I'm sure that it's the wisdom of yours truly that should elevate us both newly instated Kage to the correct path," Tsunade continued smiling. "If we just saw a glance of that statesmanship capacity in person, we could gasp in awe."

"How about we all start showcasing it now then?" Gaara interrupted, not wanting this nonsense to prolong any longer. "We all have to live and cope with the decadence and deficiency we see in others, not any capable of eroding it or shaping it simply by stating it out loud. If any of you have a problem, I would like you to set it aside for a matter of much more urgency."

"Aren't we here for the chunin exams?" Onoki continued with no care for the feel of the room. "You said we had not even an hour till they start"

Gaara started walking towards one of the sits of the Hall, Tsunade following and Onoki too, albeit much later and responding to Tsunade.

"This ain't for the exams. Not mainly. You're perfectly aware of that," Tsunade added before querying. "Why provoke?"

"An old man can have his fun," Unapologetically mentioned Onoki.

Whispers were barely heard around them.

"This is not what I was expecting when the prospect of the Kage meeting occurred," Kankuro whispered to his sister, who told him to shut up. It may not have the decor or etiquette proper for the occasion, but they were not to meddle for now.

Onoki looked around, looking at the previous Kazekage, before wondering.

"What matter would it be then? I have many in mind, but it seems you only want to refer to one. It intrigues me..." His voice lingered. "What is the subject that motivates two kages towards a meeting between us three, the closest I've recently seen to a full meeting among all the five villas."

"I could've taken your matters into account if you had communicated them to me earlier. I can confess frustration from my council, given the amount of unanswered letters we've sent. The not reciprocal relation shown between us." Gaara raised both his hands under his nose and connected them. "Matter of fact I've sought not only your aid but the other villages as well in this problem I should relegate no longer. The jinchūrikis."

"Quite the thing to meddle in Kazekage. I don't think you..."

"Let him finish Onoki," Tsunade interrupted the elder, to this one snickering.

"I am a Jinchūriki myself, Tsuchikage," some among the crowded gasp, not Onoki, tough, "I've recently come to know the real reason of my being, historically and politically, so I'm not taking this lightly nor affronting it out of arrogance, self-preservation nor ignorance," Gaara stated. "Be the initiative of my existence the prospect of balance ideated by the Senju Kages in between us no longer matters, given that an outside force is to break any semblance of that idea, making the tabu and ideological barriers that shine us from speaking about the Bijus no longer fitting or proper in our hopes of peace, or at least were you to see that like dreamlike, chance," Gaara adumbrated.

"You're talking about the Akatsuki then?" Onoki asked knowingly. He wondered how long till this topic made its stellar appearance. Deidara popping in his mind.

"Yes. Ignoring their existence is no longer an option. If what we know so far is true, besides being S-Rank shinobi who in themselves are worthy of consideration and worry, they already have two of the tailed beasts. The three tails, Sanbi and the..."

"Five tails, Gobi... Yeah, we are aware of it. Careful with what you incite with your words. Talking about other villages' business, especially this one, is unbecoming and dangerous," Onoki warned.

"Why? So deterred by your petty threats we forget your deals with the Akatsuki?" Tsunade asked with defiance. The men behind Onoki standing up in response, Tsunade's men consequently doing the same.

Gaara's face showcased beyond doubt. "What do you mean with deals?"

"Iwa has used them as mercenaries one too many times"

"What!" Gaara exclaimed with a hint of anger.

Onoki chuckled, motioning for his men to stand down.

"You're very well informed, Tsunade-Sama. May I invite your source to be cautious, it is impossible for someone to have such a bast information network and be ignored or remain unknown, one thread might get cut and leave him in the open. It is a matter of time." Onoki said.

"Is that a threat?" Tsunade questioned, angered. Daring to threat Jiraiya before her…

"No village takes lightly being watched over by no other, especially by one of your Sannin. If the other one wasn't scandalous and intrusive enough." He simply stated. Orochimaru was such nuisance. Danzo fitting somewhere here along the lines he uttered.

"What is the meaning of this, Tsuchikage?" Gaara questioned.

"You're far too young to understand, lad. Without war and with the decreasing conflict around us, the profit necessary for us villages to maintain a certain amount of shinobi disappears, forcing most of us into demilitarization. It's ineludible," it had happened to all villages. "When the treaty was put on the table for non-intervention and equitable reductions of military budget among the great villas, Kumogakure refused. The Midst didn't even bother to respond. Not only they didn't go along like your father and Hiruzen did, but they continued to expand their power and forces, stealing secret scrolls all around and creating links to clans unchained to any villages. We had no choice. We economically couldn't keep up." Onoki explained in detail before concluding, "So we resorted to mercenaries, and there were no better than them."

"You are talking like you had no choice. If I'm not mistaken, there are accomplished shinobi among your lines, or am I wrong? Kitsuchi?" Tsunade queried before the unapologetic and pompous Kage.

"Save your manichaean judgment for those who could cope with them. The quality of my shinobi has never been in question, but our losses in numbers in the last war and the process that occurred after it brought a time of demise and angst after our defeat. The actions that your Yellow Flash mainly lead us to. You may have profited, we didn't. As we were necessarily demilitarizing and rebuilding, the word got out of our state of affairs and our ill fate was spoken into a more threatening existence for a few years till we recovered. What men think to be true, it becomes so in its consequences." Onoki stated ominously. "They thought us to be weak or in disarray, and therefore nobody came to us with payment for missions outside our borders. We couldn't cope for some time with the effort it took to cultivate shinobi, and when those already in the ranks were not receiving the experience or payments of the hard difficult missions in order lands… It makes everything harder. So when in battle and in need of experience at our disposal, we were indeed forced to hire mercenaries that were not only cheaper but in their case much more effective." Not sacrificing the lives of their citizens as well. "If you are waiting for our remorse or apology, you will grow grey, I warn you."

Why argue further with someone so obdurate, thought Gaara. Focused on rearranging the ontology of the conversation "And now that that group has turned against you, now what?"

"They are not even among my top tier of priorities." Not by a long shot. "You ought to be aware of how difficult and long the process of controlling an ounce of a Biju's power is, let alone for it to be a fearsome asset if not freed in an enemy's home." Onoki added.

"You can't be that blind Onoki. Short-sighted," Tsunade added in dismay. "We aren't aware of how they will employ it. It is doubtful they are to follow what us villages have done."

"This is what I mean, you doubt because you are unaware, you have no knowledge like the rest of us... What I'm not is paranoiac about something we have so little knowledge of. Care any of you introduce me to the reasons for this prompt action."

"The Kyuubi was able by himself to partly destroy our village and take numerous lives in the process. I wasn't there, but those who accompany me were. The reports talk about massive infrastructure damage within the minutes and a rate of casualties hard to cope with. Three hundred seventy-five people were believed to have died during its first minute of attack, before the alarm sounded and the villagers went for shelter. Reports of an incapacity of dealing or managing damage to the Biju, to be unable with force to draw him out of the core of the village..." Tsunade recalled as Onoki's stare was fixated on her. Incredulity reigning among the present. Each village had had a case, but no recent one had that magnitude. "I could not dare to imagine what would have happened if the shinobi you so fear hadn't appeared and transported the beast outside the village. We would talk then about the need of rebuilding a decimated village and deaths in the thousands, that being optimistic. If you think that S-Rank shinobi harboring that power is not problematic, I wouldn't know then what to tell you. Think your particle jutsu would be enough when they come for you or when you fight forced by one of the economic troubles you liked pointing out? That you could just disintegrate their Bijus?"

The murmurs started again before each leading figure in the background order each to shut it down.

Onoki hummed.

"In spite of not knowing their motives, we can't sit idly by doing nothing, letting them roam through our countries. Be their plans what they may, we shouldn't wait to act, who knows how late it would be when we find out each detail. What we know is that it would be unwise to not judge them for what they could be by the power they have, their capacity to create change towards the tide they desire." Gaara added. "Act if not upon that upon the fact that it's your rogue shinobi that majorly form them and the fact we haven't so far stopped none."

Tsunade, again, couldn't confess about Hidan. Funny thing was that if Onoki heard he was stopped by a youngling, Akatsuki would decrease further in his rank of priorities and perceived endangerment.

"You presume your hands clean then? We don't know the full list of members that constitute it, but it wouldn't be advisable to presume Suna to be the exception to the rule." Onoki warned, outside of Suna and Kumo, at least each village had a known member.

"Care to tell us what member of your village forms part of the rule, ours is Itachi Uchiha. Yours?" Tsunade asked.

There was a moment of silence before Onoki turned to a clock and noticed something.

"I think we are called to our seats in the arena before the matches start, don't you think?" Onoki said as he jumped out the chair and went to the door. His people followed.

'Fuck!' Cursed Tsunade in her head, frustrated on how little they had progressed. She had to come up with something.

"What a waste of time," uttered Kankuro as Gaara was surrounded by his family.

"I wouldn't say that," Stated the Kazekage. "Let's go. We are the hosts after all, it will be unbecoming of us to not appear before our own people." He turned to Tsunade. "Coming Hokage?"

Tsunade simply nodded before adding, "In a second." She turned to her guards in a blaze, frustrated, and really missing Shizune. She would send for Kurenai and Shikamaru.

Speaking of which, where was the Nara?

They couldn't get out of here without a treaty.

In the corridors of the building, Kitsuchi took a major step to reach Onoki's side with one question in mind.

"Tsuchikage-sama we ought to..." He couldn't finish his sentence, not needed.

"Not now. We will let him to his devices for now. He's guarded and we already set his expiration date. Han's death changed nothing of the plan before this conversation and I can assure you it won't now," Onoki ended as his official nodded, slowing the rhythm of his path.

They soon find themselves in the agglutinated crowd that fervently occupied the street. The hunger for the matches palpable in everyone's eyes. Onoki, not wanting to be confused for a child, proceeded to elevate himself, fly, causing surprise and wonder in adults and children alike.

* * *

In the core of Iwa….

Discomfort was something the secretary could internally confess feeling at the moment. It had been some time since this specific doctor had come up to the Tsuchikage's office, some time since his specific services for a very particular reason were demanded. The nature of such being…

A touchy and huge subject. Two names and the link between them.

It seemed odd. She had to ask him again and again, under whose orders he was allowed to look into that. It was his own work, but they guarded it for a reason, even from its author.

"Agataki-san, the Tsuchikage ain't here and without him I don't feel I should lead you to it?" She said with internal concern and outer calmness.

"Look, miss, I… I don't have all day. It was under his own orders," Agataki claimed, bringing a hand to his forehead. Snorting. He was a short man with a bald head, late in his 50s. Decline showcased all around his face as his skin already lost its structure and tended to melt and trickle down one could say. "Why the hell did they call me up here for then?"

Being a secretary was not far off being out of favor, from a job search aspiration… Dealing with this was not what no one looked forward to.

"If you could wait just a few minutes till Dehai-sama arrives," she pleaded. He was the person currently in charge, responsible, and best of all, he had meticulous eyes.

"Yeah, no, please. Because we've all got all day to wait for an errand we've no interest to take part of," Agataki was famous for being a nightmare outside his clinic, like day and night. If not paid and in his office he could induce you to enter therapy just for the anger he himself awakened. He was not so well mannered as one could think, tell him that a phycologist ain't at the level of a physician and you could see him going wild. Despite all, he was well regarded as one of the better professionals of his field.

The secretary internally sighed, sarcasm was a bitch ass thing to deal with day in an out, the contempt of angry people coming your way for things you had no say.

"Is there a problem?" Asked a man that made way past the doors that led to the hallway at which end was the office.

"Dehai-sama!" Loudly called the secretary. 'Thank god,' she thought. "Could you come here for a second?"

Had she looked at the doctor and she would have seen a particular hint.

You know those stories where the secretary hints about wanting a fling with the one she works for, someone in the mediations? No, well this particular woman, Sazuno, neither, for there was not a good looker among the top tier men in power in the village.

While not Asuma, in order to have the perfect mental image, given that he had a full beard, three times his size, he resembled him somewhat. Although with eye bags the size you have never seen, and seeable dimples all around, even discernible underneath that facial hair that was around his face. Dark eyes, old and with a major cut from the left side of his neck that reaches closely, by an inch, his left eye.

Quite a menacing and not well-healed wound that gave him the look of someone that had faced a million battles. Black attire all along in concordance to his short spiky hair, mohican style. A choice not very common among men that age. Fairly tall, too.

"How can I help?" He said ominously, looking down at the grumpy old man he had not the best opinion of. Sharing tales of each experience back then of the past fought war, among other topics, did not help matters. "Agataki-san?"

The old man looked up and repeated himself to his annoyance. In the process Dehai sensed his signature just in case he was another person with a skill for transformations techniques, if he was he couldn't tell with his skill. It had to be the man.

"All right, I understand. But make me understand, why would Onoki want you to look into your own reports of Rōshi and Okoda? Don't you remember your own work?"

"Two years does that to you, besides how long those reports were. They're a special case without a doubt, but I've had many since then and my memory of the details has shrunk," Agataki tried to make them understand. "You know what we are about to do to the man, I presume the Tsuchikage wants every scenario and route looked into so there ain't trouble, or furthermore, so we don't repeat some things with the future subject. Don't seem that complicated to me."

Dehai suspected nothing wrong. It was just that this man didn't have a good rapport with the higher ranks of the village, despising them even. He nodded and motioned to Sazuno to wait here with the man as he brought what he wanted from the office.

He didn't make each wait long. Given Sazuno's eye's pleads to not leave her alone with the man, he did his best to long stride his way through the corridors in order for her to not endure much more.

It was in fact the woman's vibe that led him to be suspicious of the man. She had a good instinct.

Extending his hand, he offered it. Wanting to test one last thing, just to not ignore Sazuno's suspicion, not knowing what led to the distrust.

"Care to join me for a takoyaki's feast at Masukaze's place once you're done?" He asked, well-mannered. It was one of the country's favorite delicacies.

"I would rather have anything else in the world but that… That heinous creation. You know that. I would rather listen to a humanist psychology exposition, from that fucking blonde kid. With that I tell you all," Agataki ended the interaction with his back already turned, looking for the door. "Treat me to something else and I'm all yours tomorrow or the day after. I need time for this thing."

Dehai smiled, it seemed Sazuno had nothing to worry about. Looking down, he said to her to move past it. The man was a simply a dick. Thanked for her efforts.

She finally smiled.

* * *

Minutely, unlike his shown nature, Agataki went to the outskirts of the village, having stopped at his office before. As he approached a tree, he was called out by a black figure coming out of it.

"Do you have it?" He asked.

Frame by frame, second per second, each distinctive quality of his morphology, the color of his skin, the protrusion of his eyes, his chin, the mere size of his muscle frame, of the clothes put upon them, morphed till only a homogenous white remained. Gaining features and looks that didn't belong to any product of human relation.

Would Iwa's crew smile remained had they noticed?

Zetsu smiled before his other black, deeper tone, self, ready to reemerge. Gloating as he showed him the profile.

"Well done, he's waiting." He said as he gruesomely opened the casquet or whatever was around him for his other part to rearrange.

Disappearing into the tree.

* * *

The cheers erupted in the coliseum as the finals proceeded. Every last stand occupied as this rare occurrence could not be met with anything that wasn't anxiety or expectation, the roars of people that had been weeks looking up to this, booking a seat the moment they could and postponing all chores and responsibilities for this unique occurrence. Some may even have forgotten that they had to take care of their children along the way, their minds not being filled by their image, they were not worthy, be them damned given how the Chunin exams never happened here.

If you were to enter it, being a contestant yourself, as you took the last step in the tunnel, the sunlight would have blinded you.

The second after regaining sight, almost by inertia you would look up from the surprising depths of the colosseum to the high stands, all the faces that crowded it becoming blurry in the distances. Only discerning shouts and their gasps, their anticipation and claps.

Not even a distinct stand where some of the most important figures in the world resided, that of the Kage, was that clearly visible. The decorations around pinpointing it out of the uniformity of the architectural design of this place.

Tsunade is alongside Gaara and Onoki, all absorbed by the matches, each portraying their roles as that of Kage, not being overly joyed whenever one of their village's shinobi won, showcasing constraint and respect… For example, when Sakura won, Tsunade just nodded and internally celebrated. They were currently making small chat given the public setting, this not being the place for diplomatic or strategic dialogues.

Small chat being pointing out some abilities showcased by the two battles that had happened so far. The second one coming to an end.

The stir was all caused by two bodies dropping to the ground, Kiba and Akamaru's, defeated by Ameno, a medical ninja of the sand. Sakura's next opponent. Tsunade couldn't help but appreciate a fellow medical ninjutsu user having such control of her chakra and the ability to fight in the front, regardless of her beating one of her subordinates.

"And here I thought medical ninjutsu and shinobi had faded with Chiyo," Tsunade said with a smile. It was good that the Sand had not forgotten such an important field. All villages have a core of medics, she had shared teachings with some, nor were at the level of Konoha tough.

Ever since she faced that god-awful, dreadful woman, she hadn't heard of any Suna shinobi with those exceptional abilities, who had introduced new developments to the field. The pain Chiyo was to counterattack and defend against. Creating antidotes for her biological warfare was no easy feat. Good riddance of that bastard, she ought to have died at least from old age…Or so Tsunade thought.

"Who says she's faded?" Gaara responded, questioning with a smirk of his own, although untraceable.

Tsunade turns to the Kazekage in amazement. Was the old lady still kicking?

"Chiyo is still alive?" Tsunade asked, baffled to the other Kage, who simply nodded. "Where is she?" She was somewhat fearful actually, looking side to side, if someone had a vendetta set on her, it was that old menace, one of the greatest shinobi this village had ever produced.

"Retired," Gaara put it, not wanting to give much more information.

"Yeah, huh? I would have bet, not even death is looking forward to grabbing a hold of that irritating woman," Tsunade said as if taking a weight off her. She doubted that there were ten people in the world who felt more animosity towards her than that small and polyvalent shinobi.

"Could Tenten from the Leaf and Sen Hanoue from the Sand come down for the next match," the proctor voice heard in the background.

Tenten stepped down into the arena, glimpsing at Temari's almost carbon copy walking alongside her. Almost the same confident aura about her.

The memory of her overwhelming defeat by her fan vivid in her every fiber. Temari's words echoing. How she called her dull… A shame as she defeated her in seconds.

As they positioned opposed one from the other she clenched her fists. Locking eyes with the target.

"The bun haired girl again? Against Sen? That girl can't catch a break," Temari said from the stances. She had forgotten this pairing.

"Be niece," Shikamaru said.

"You know this is a terrible matchup. The equivalent of you fighting alone in the clear," Temari said analytically, somewhat darkly.

"You actually have thought about that?" Shikamaru thought in a surprise. Was this what occupied the Suna shinobi's mind? How to beat him?

Temari merely smirked. She too had a fellow who she wanted a second match with, someone who was right besides her presently, someone that wouldn't bother to accept the challenge if not forced to. If only he could call on his manliness for him to jump at the chance of defending it, Shikamaru was not as easy as that.

The proctor signaled for the match to start.

The arena was at first just a concrete circle in the middle of a smaller sized space than Konoha's finals area. All clear with no vegetation, with nowhere to hide. A straightforward, forthcoming scenario.

Tenten thanked the gods that in between Sakura's monstrous strength and Kiba's use of paper bombs that the field was now instead filled with debris and rubble where one could operate and not be fully exposed to her foe's long rage attacks. Knowing full well the double-edged situation that it created.

The proctor threw his arm down and with it said the words she was ready for.

* * *

Flashback...

"You know learning kenjutsu won't mean anything in your pursuit of overcoming your long rage attack weakness against ninjutsu users, mainly wind users like that Temari girl you talked to me about?" Yugao said as she and Tenten sat after a long day of training. "We can continue to work in your already medium tier reflexes, your stance… All that shit, but it won't mean nothing if you can get close to your opponent."

Tenten looked up in the sky as if that would give her answers. She still didn't have a reply to her conundrum. "What should I do then? There ain't a sword that cuts through wind by any chance?" She asked.

Yugao shook her head.

"Wind users are a pain in the ass." Thank the gods they were the rarest of them all. "Their techniques can carry with them all that lies in between. Like the shrapnel propelled by a bomb, wind techniques sway with them all that is on the floor, minuscule pieces that at great speeds can hurt you, in extreme cases pierce through you. In your case, any weapons you throw at them, if repelled and thrown back to you, could spell your end Tenten".

So far, Tenten had no answer. She already knew that mainly bukijutsu users had a great disadvantage against wind users. Not even that thread dance that she was recently thought could work, given how she couldn't predict where the kunais she threw that carried them would end up.

"You have to erase that distance between you since you can't play her game, as to the how, let me show you some ways."

* * *

Tenten ran straight ahead, aiming at Sen, who in a blink of an eye drew her fan and threw a gust of wind at Tenten. This not being an uncovered area, Tenten ducked and covered in the debris.

Doing something in the process.

Instead of remaining there by the time Sen swung again, Tenten had moved swiftly to the next cover point. Following the trail of places where Tenten could cover and knowing full well that her genjutsu wouldn't work right now, Sen aimed again to where Tenten was, just waiting till she moved again for the next position given that it had some distance to it and the bun haired girl would be in the open for a brief time.

When Tenten followed the script Sen threw her attack once more, and there was the target, in the clear, aiming for cover.

Too late.

"Ninpou Fujasin: Dust Wind"

Tenten barely had time to react, she already had drawn out a scroll.

"Unsealing Technique: Segmented Iron Dome," a segmented armour surrounded a crouched Tenten.

When clear of the wind, Sen saw it. If Tenten could have summoned that, then they were in an impasse since she could remain there all along.

Sen heard the segments of the back of it rise, allowing Tenten to backtrack. Out of the two sides she saw two balls kind of unraveling as they rolled on the floor, smoke coming out. Out of there, a kunai aimed at her.

Using her fan, Sen deviated its path. The thing was that mentioned kunai was carrying a similar ball and with the wind it unravelled too. Clouding the vision field.

Adding the more redundancy to the situation two other kunais landed far away from her to even be a problem but again they had those 'fucking', as Sen suddenly call them, orb on them.

Sen was growing tired of this futile effort, clearing the field view with her wind technique, infusing even more chakra than before.

As the swift cleaned the vision Sen realized that Tenten was nowhere to be found, focusing on her senses she saw Tenten appear just before her eyes, crawling out the destructed part of the landscape near her, she was bruised, ought to have taken some impact for her last venting of frustrations.

Focusing on her, Sen jumped back when a lengthy chain aimed to wrap around her. Tenten smirked.

When Sen landed she turned to Tenten, surprised that for some reason Tenten hadn't followed her, but rather only raised her fingers and briefly focused on them.

A light shined on her feet and it was then that she realised she was above some paper bombs glued to the floor. They exploded, and her jumping didn't but add momentum to the explosion, propelling her farther away.

That was Tenten's plan. This Sen girl may have Temari's looks and abilities, but she did not have her intellect, and Tenten was no longer that same girl. In their original fight she wasn't even able to move Temari from her original spot, she didn't have the judgment and mind presence to plan something, she just threw her best at Temari presuming that would be enough, not taking into account her rival abilities and analyzing the weakness she had to them.

Now with aim, a precise angle, forcing her directly back, and a bit of luck she was able to lead Sen to the original cover position she was in, where she had planted the paper bombs.

Tenten quickly approached her enemy, remembering Yugao words of not underestimating the enemy, not if injured, not if momentarily overcome. To not take victory in the fact of reaching a head-to-head combat in close quarters but to win it, not preconceiving her enemy, Temari or in this case Sen, to not have taijutsu abilities due to her resilience in long range attacks.

Going for the fan, Tenten kicked it away from her owner and when Sen tried to do hand signs, Tenten interrupted it by raising a kick and cutting right in the middle of the effort, almost reaching Sen's shin.

With her chain wrapped in her own hand and with a couple of moves before the injured foe, Tenten tied her by the legs before pulling her down, mentioned Sen falling, hitting her head hard.

Drawing her sword, if nothing to prove that she had one, because this fight wasn't the one where to prove how much she had grown in that area, Tenten, while pulling the chained Sen towards her feet, lung it to the point it was somewhere near, caressing her enemy's throat, as she drawn-in Sen to her feet.

The proctor called it a match.

"Enough!"

Just like that.

Tenten was so in the zone that she almost heard nothing more.

She was panting. So focused that she didn't hear the sound of the crowd cheering for such a spectacle, although with the smoke they didn't see a part of it; and having in mind that Tenten had just defeated a Suna shinobi.

The next shouted words were just a whisper for her.

"The winner is Tenten," claimed the proctor.

In the crowd Shikamaru looked at Temari and added teasingly, unlike his usual self, "You were saying?" Knowing the both of them who that plan was originally for as Tenten tries to locate her in the audience.

Temari groaned and acknowledged the girl's effort while Shikamaru chuckled. Shikamaru was almost expecting Tenten to copy some principles he himself used during the fight with Temari.

A voice called for him. As he turned he suddenly noticed Hoheto breathless, walking fastly towards him. "Shikamaru, where the hell have you been?" The Nara brought a hand to the back of his hand as his doubt-filled face caused Temari to smirk. "Come on, the Hokage has been calling for you."

Shikamaru shifted to look at Temari, having the manners to at least excuse himself. Little did he know that she was following him herself. "You coming?"

"I ought to be with my brother too, I just took a detour after talking to our participants," She said with a smile as she caught up.

"That being?" Shikamaru asked.

"You." She answered bluntly with no trace of shyness or coyness, fully looking at him, unambiguously smirking. No sensual tone showcased, not needed for Shikamaru to look up front and try to do his best to hide his blush. Hiding his hand in his pockets rather than bringing it up, hiding his mannerism when bothered, in this case surprised.

'What is wrong with me?' He thought as he purposely turned to Hoheto, who being a Hyūga and all, Shikamaru foretold to be job oriented and fully unaware of this stuff. The Jōnin was smiling too, to his surprise. 'Troublesome.'

Kurenai smiled thinking of a friend of hers looking at Tenten's prowess, before Gai made all in his vicinity deaf with his shouts of pride, again. She had known him since the academy, so she was used to it by now.

In the Kage stands reigned surprise given the match up.

"What a nifty performance," added Onoki. The girl had the odds against her, given what the reports said she had shown during previous encounters.

"Sen was lethargic and monothematic in the way she performed. Using variations of the same move one-to-many times. At first, she was rather reacting than acting, and as soon as she saw Tenten's defense structure and the impasse she was at she stopped doing either. Tenten outsmarted her and made this battlefield her own by bothering to find a way to control it, to shape it," Tsunade stated only for Gaara to nod in response. Sharing the Hokage's view.

"Let's hope they are all as entertaining as this one," Onoki added, awaiting the one among his shinobi. "I would say that the way she performed against her major weakness, her train of thought… It warrants a chunin position."

"Indeed," Tsunade said, surprised with the brown-haired girl she hadn't come to know as much as the other girls of her generation, even less so than Hinata. If she only knew how much of a fan the bun-haired girl was of hers.

Tenten finally exhaled, and after the much-deserved celebration, she recalled. She recalled how hard it was for her to know that she couldn't follow in her idol's footsteps, despite her determination. How much grief, how impotent she felt. The pain of her failure against Temari after that much preparation… The extra year of training they had.

"Good job, Tenten," Congratulated both her partners with distinctive degrees of effusiveness, bringing a wider smile to her face.

She may no longer have the chance to follow Tsunade's path, but be it damn if she was not going to pursue harder in her efforts of becoming a legendary kunoichi herself.

Here amidst her partners, their cheering and compliments, Neji's in a calm manner, of course, she realized she was just where she wanted to be. Be it damned if she ever pursued the ANBU having these two characters around. Looking at them, she smiled before accepting Lee's embrace.

Other two contests went after Tenten's show, each the more disappointing in Tsunade's eyes.

Their performances, their years of development… If there were no accolades, positions to gain, if there wasn't a sense of having stakes, overconfidence and a lack of motivation could be a factor in her young shinobis performances. A lack of meaningness.

They were all chunin; it was obvious. Exempt Kiba and Choji.

Matter of fact, Neji was in the upper echelon of the Hyūga in what related to skill, surpassing many current Jōnins of the clan. Either she upgraded him after all he had done recently to that position, or she had the uncomfortable task of having to move down a bunch… Has that ever happened? She was not that enthusiastic about asking it.

Could they lose their imminent position if underperforming in these latter rounds? Absolutely.

Shino, while a prodigy himself in his clan, still couldn't get over his taijutsu weakness. All things given, it was against a specialist of such a field, Shira of the Sand, with whom all would have trouble. While cunning in his planning Shino couldn't rival someone of Lee's level, he couldn't overcome the odds and fell to the floor defeated. One favorite, the Aburame, was already out of the tournament.

Hinata won against the shinobi from the Rain, although with more difficulties than expected, her performance left much to be desired. The Amegakure shinobi proved more difficult that she could expect with the abilities she apparently had and being younger than much of the current shinobi partaking in the finals.

The monitor called for the match many connoisseurs in the stands were waiting for, that Tenten never hoped for. For Neji Hyūga and Rock Lee to fight.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted emphatically, frantic, he had been looking forward to this for so long. Neji simply smiled again, nodding in response and walking down the stairs toward the field.

Gai wished them both from a distance as well and so did Tenten, fearing that in their competitiveness they would go overboard and end up hurting one another seriously.

The tautness was tangible between the two as they stared at one another, awaiting the final signal. Neji had learned to never underestimate or look down on anybody, the last time he was beaten by a loudmouth that was called a loser in the academy, that he himself called that. He had grown since then; he had learned to fly out of his cage.

Both raised their hand in a sign of respect, closing their eyes and leaving it there till the proctor said:

"Hajime!"

Both became a blur. There were no weights on this time.

'Here we go,' thought Tsunade.

Lee meets Neji before he could reach the equidistant middle between them. Seeing as he was to make the first move, approaching him, Neji stopped and waited to extend his palm to hit him straight but Lee disappeared in an instant from immediate sight.

The strings of veins surrounding Neji's eyes intensified. Having a near-360º field of vision was handy, the problem was to pinpoint something moving that fast. Lee's chakra system was a blue amalgamation that promptly disappeared.

He could not follow at such speed and pinpoint all his tenketsus.

That was till… Noticing him, Neji turned. 'There!'

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm" with a high-speed palm Neji created a vacuum shell, in order to hit Lee from medium distance.

But Lee eluded it. Appearing close to Neji and aiming to hit him again. As Lee lunged his fist at Neji, having seen it, the Hyūga went arched back to elude it, ready to hit it, protecting himself and also hitting Lee's tenketsu.

But this one's fist didn't follow the path predicted, going to the ground to support a high kick with force.

Neji was so preoccupied with the speed and force of each blow that he bit on it, he was caught waiting for Lee, getting hit in the face, knocked down by the momentum of the impact after flying in an aerial arch route.

As he rearranges himself, still carried by the hit and putting a hand in the ground to propel himself to a proper stance, ready to counter the next attack, when looking up at Lee, the bushy brow flew by again, this once to his left. Neji was aware, and yet too late to even perform Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven again, rotating on himself.

"Leaf Hurricane!"

Lee kicked him just on his left ribs, leaving him bouncing on the floor and hitting some debris.

In the crowd, Tenten lamented, they were going to go all out.

Her partners meanwhile waged the battle, as Lee lurked once more, this once Neji was able to rotate and at least put some space in between them.

Gaara waged internally, having Lee defeated his shield and sand, it was no wonder he could outmaneuver this Hyūga.

"Neji-niisan!" Said Hinata already in the stands, already patched up.

"Lee's too fast and strong for him," said Ino, looking at the match. "Well, for everyone I mean. Neji is no match."

"It hasn't even started yet, don't rush to conclusions," warned Tenten. Having seen them go head to head for so long. Picturing them meeting Gai for the first time. The physical toll each training session had on them, the aches and pains of the morning after. "Besides, Neji is far from done. He just had a wrong approach."

Sakura shrugged a bit as she meticulously watched the match, bringing one of her hands to her chin. "I don't think it's necessarily the wrong one. He was just hoping for Lee to do what he always does and hit him once he was in range. He was being on the offensive by defending," Ino looked at her with doubt, asking her out loud. Meanwhile, Tenten and Hinata just focused on the fight, both understanding it. "Do you recall what Kakashi said?"

Ino denied with her head, she was with her team far away from that briefing.

"You are right, Neji has almost no chance if Lee opens his inner gates." Sakura guessed, not taking her eyes off the field and trying her best to come up with the simplest explanation. "Neji could easily deflect Lee's current attacks by just performing the last technique you saw. Or with his own reflexes and defensive speed. But he knows that if there is an impasse, where they ain't getting nowhere, Lee will start opening them, so he's taking the hits he's not so quick to counter easily, also giving Lee the impression of not only control but that he ain't in need of going the extra mile. He knows Lee will go out regardless, but opening…"

"Those gates have never been Lee's first move, but rather a somewhat last resort," added Tenten. Lee had to know that there were other fights to come promptly and he couldn't be worn out if he wanted to pursue the first place in the competition.

"Exactly," Sakura exclaimed. "Those gates are eight specific tenketsus that exist as natural body, chakra overall flow, limiters. The first one literally is the mind's mental inhibitor that protects the body itself by not allowing the wielder to go beyond what he can physically endure, shutting the body down if needed. When you open them, you can use to fuller capacity all your abilities, the further he opens the stronger. But the further, the more risk. Many of Lee's wounds weren't Gaara's but his own when unblocking them." It was a kinjutsu, after all.

"So Neji waited till Lee attacked so he could hit them? Because he knows where they are?" Ino asked deductively.

"If Neji took the first step and made Lee have to duck and defend, Lee just could walk back, enter in and out Neji's range at speeds that Neji couldn't counter but just elude. In immediate close distance, Neji is more agile and precise with his Gentle Fist style, so he waited for Lee," Tenten stated with full knowledge of what she was talking about. Not only was Neji Lee's weakness, but the other way around. Lee was fast and strong enough to elude or altogether stop Neji from starting his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique. Stopping the sequence with only a hit or grabbing a hold of him.

"If Neji was to hit any tenketsu whatsoever, Lee will be in serious risk, because that enhanced chakra, while harmful it would be distributed all around his body, a full effort from a fully operational network to sustain such an amount of chakra and physical effort, that it's not used to. Regardless, his body will ache but not cause that depth of affliction," they were watching them going at it, Lee jumping back as Neji's finger almost caressed one of his forearms. "The more tenketsus Neji closes, the more that chakra concentrates in a smaller part of his body, increasing the risk of overbearing Lee's own chakra network, was he to open them," Sakura informed after studying Lee's case in Tsunade's office. "He was at full capacity with Gaara and already at the third gate he had muscle tears and fatigue. If he was to go beyond them with a not functioning part of his body's chakra system… We are talking about serious injuries," Beyond bones breaking. Ino almost pictured it like that Sound guy whose arms exploded on its own chakra when fighting Shino, ugh. Those bugs…

It was not exactly like that.

Tenten looked down. Could it be that Neji knew what would happen, so he wanted to stop the fight before it got out of hand by being strategic? That's why he was aiming for the points in Lee's torso all along? She was terrified of the idea of Lee going through all that therapy again.

"So Neji's got the upper hand? The sooner he hits one of those eight tenketsus, the sooner this is over." Ino concluded.

"It depends what point he hits, but yes, there is a certain point where Lee's body will give up and implode. Not having the mind the capacity to stop him naturally by making him collapse." Hinata added, still the quietest among the group.

"Neji got to win this and hit him before Lee's mental clock turns aware that it's in his interest to promptly end this fight and to go all in for the kill..." All turned to Sakura when she said those last words. "Sorry, you know what I mean."

Lee propelled himself with much effort in order to swiftly approach Neji. With hardened nerves and skillful footwork, Neji put one of his feet behind, getting skinny so he didn't need to fully evade Lee's attack and being close enough to hit his arm.

And he did. Lee noticed being hit. Pursuing Neji, Lee attacked him constantly as they both ran to the wall before going up, climbing it almost to the top.

Lee vanished.

A leg found its way to Neji's, making him lose control and fall, Lee jumping to hit him midair and help him arrive sooner, the more painfully.

Neji tried to kick him mid-air but Lee deflected away the effort with a motion of his left arm. Lee tried to punch him but it was this once that Neji stopped him, Lee's leg almost in his friend's chest. Neji hit the point in his leg before Lee hit him with the other one, making Neji fall hard and rapidly to the ground.

"He did it!" Exclaimed Ino.

"He has hit no major or middle-tier torso tenketsus, Lee could still open them and it would only take him very little till they function again," Tenten stated. "Remember Ino, there are 361 of them." There were three strings, pathways, just in each leg, Hinata just saw Neji hit and therefore stopping the current in one of those strings, therefore not having hindered Lee's extremity enough.

Hinata realised as he stared at Sakura and Tenten the downside of having such fame… The fact that all had studied so thoroughly the Hyūga.

"It's impossible to follow Lee," Said Ino. They were in the lower parts of the colosseum. She couldn't bet how it looked from up there. All the rubble and the debris rising as Lee's momentum carried them. The sand rising and succinctly clouding a part of the field. What a spectacle it was, despite all!

Gaara smiles. Onoki meanwhile marveled at the taijutsu prowess of those individuals.

Tsunade's trail of thought was much like Sakura's. Lee was already once close to losing this path, this hope of his to be a great ninja. Gai had surmounted the major physical damages of five of the gates, apparently. She didn't know to what level this boy was, if he could deal with even the consequences of two of them even.

The battle went on for a little longer, Neji now eluding all of Lee's attacks and punctuality aiming at him with his middle range eight trigrams vacuum palm. Having only hit him once. Not overusing it having in thought his chakra and his need to preserve it during this fight. He was doing his best so it could all go to plan. He already realised that it was impossible for him to hit all the points, or the 64 principal ones. Having not hit more than 9 so far.

Not one of the eight either.

As the minute went by, Lee felt very much fully again and decided to use it once for all. 'I had this reserved for you in the Chunin Exams, after all, Neji,' Lee thought.

'It's over,' thought Gaara.

"Neji's too late," Kurenai stated next to both boy's teacher as Lee shouted out.

"Third Gate: Gate of Life, open!"

Lee's skin reddened a bit, his veins showcasing themselves more as his chakra alone created like heat waves in his immediate vicinity. A cloak forming around him.

'Lee!' Tenten and Gai thought.

* * *

Two years ago…

The sound a hit before the resounding impact of a full body clashing down was heard by those around. Felt by one of them mostly. He was panting and bruised all over his body.

"Why do you keep this up?" Questioned Tenten as Lee tried his darndest to stand up after mopping the floor for the eleventh time thanks to Neji as he beat him again. Like always in hand to hand combat. "You are never gonna win against Neji. Because… Well, he is a genius."

"I may have not been born with a natural talent like Neji, but I have trained hard. That's my gift, my ninja way," he shouted as he fully extended his arms, rising slowly, clearly hurt yet determined.

"That changes nothing, Lee," said Neji above him with "No matter how much you train you've no chance against me. It doesn't matter how hard or how many times you try"

"That's not true! You know that's not true!" Lee shouted. It couldn't be.

* * *

Neji got in stance and fully focused on following Lee's movements. 'Directly into the third gate!' Thought the Hyūga. Both were hurting, their clothes roughen up this time.

They were just staring at one another for a second, that in this fast-paced fight, where if you blinked you felt like you missed an important part, seemed longer, almost everlasting.

Till Lee moves to a speed that none could keep up.

Neji's byakugan was enough to elude the incoming and almost invisible train. Now he really needed to duck. This was not his stop.

First thing he knew, Lee was on his backside and before he turned, he was just before him dealing him a blow that threw him offside. He couldn't take many more of those. Matter of fact, he was not physically aware of the consequences of that sole hit. The couple that landed after that. He didn't have Gaara's armour nor something around the battleground to substitute with if he was about to be hit again.

Neji jumped up and noticed Lee heading his way before leaving a trail as he just disappeared.

Below him ducked and tucked, Lee hit Neji with his leg, sending him up and unlike that time with Gaara where he had to hit him multiple times, with this only one, Neji was already at the necessary heights.

As soon as his armbands started unraveling, everybody that had seen his fight with Gaara knew what was up.

Entangling Neji with them. Everybody had a script of what was to happen, cursing all and wishing for their friends to not have the worst of luck.

Their breaths shortened and their tension rose as Lee fully had a hold of Neji and was about to rotate.

The mere second past and the response from the audience varied. Massively.

"What?" Questioned Sakura out loud before what unraveled.

Instead of the whatever Lotus, be it the reverse or front, technique, where Neji would head down after a bunch hit or rotating with Lee holding him in place; both were falling in different directions, Neji having freed himself. Somehow.

Both hitting the ground with no semblance of balance or control. Lee in an awkward position. Many feet away from each other.

"What happened?" Asked Gaara as he stood from his seat.

Tsunade had the same doubt. Both were yet to stand. Seeing her subordinate with his Byakugan and in awe, she asked him. Hinata suffered the same fate with her friends. "What happened Hoheto?"

One moment Neji seemed doomed and the next he was capable of breaking the hold and hitting Lee.

The Hyūga Jōnin didn't take his sight of the field. When he had heard of this Hyūga prodigy, he didn't believe it. Seeing it in person, he couldn't help but to do so. "Amazing! Neji-san released chakra from his tenketsu, creating a power surge that allowed for the grip to lose as it expanded. Enabling him to hit Lee's abdomen tenketsu with his back turned, lunging his arm back, the precision…" It was awe spiring. "He then turned and landed two other instant and critical shots. Since they were tied, almost embracing, Lee could do nothing to elude them. He fooled him," the pride for a fellow Hyūga.

It seemed that Neji had a counter to his incapability to precisely attack Lee, even to reach him matter of fact. Lee was simply too quick. It was when fully imprisoned and intertwined that Neji could hit the taijutsu master.

'These Konoha kids ain't bad. Ain't bad at all,' Thought Kitsuchi.

Onoki was impressed. The boy that marveled him the most was the weird-looking, green wearing one. He was a monster for his age, any age. That taijutsu prowess….

The Hyūga was effective. In battle, facing such a monster, he was capable of incapacitating him, that being an accomplishment in itself. In a real scenario it would give others by his efforts the chance to kill such an enemy or the possibility of escaping. Before such force and power, showcasing such temper and intellectual planning… They may be partners, therefore being the lavender eye teenager's plan years in the making, but that was not to rest merit from the fact that he never lost his cool and acted with such poise.

Lee's chakra system was down and the damage of the fall, the fatigue… The gates had been closed, Neji had dead aim when hitting one of the eight with precise touch. The third one in the fall, located in Lee's spinal cord. Somehow reaching Lee's back after landing those two blows.

The fall was such that he had the time and reach.

Unfortunately, Neji had used all the chakra he had reserved for that move, for that plan, meaning all he had left. The damage of the blows taken…. Neither were in shape to fight. His plan was not going according to what he expected.

"What happens if neither of them stand..." Whoever was about to end that questioning was shut by what was occurring before all of them.

Both of them crawling till they could put just enough force in their knees to go after the remote chance of standing up, the arms and chest effort to help the legs making presence later, all movement wobbly. The fact that Lee stood up was no surprise to anyone, least of all Neji.

They were in no shape to fight, but neither dared giving up. Gai, in the stands, smiled.

Lee stood first, and before the counting reached cero like in a boxing match, Neji raised up. The proctor of the match didn't put a stop to the encounter as Neji approached, tumbling and raising again while Lee waited for his chakra to run again.

When Neji reached him, Lee was able to elude the first blow, panting and almost drooling, but Neji reached him in the gut with his second strike. As Lee crouched, Neji took a step back and planting his foot raised the other to finish this with a kick to the head.

Lee ducked under it and with a lethargic movement struck the exhausted Hyūga in his supporting foot, bringing him to the ground.

Seen as they were crawling in order to finish each other the proctor was in the verge of calling for the match to end, this was just a slug race between two shinobi that had already showcased their tremendous skill and abilities and that were in no shape to immediately fight the next round, just an hour apart, literally.

Once Lee was on top of Neji with a fist raised and Neji with his fist ready to strike, they called him to act.

"Enough!" He said, grabbing a hold of both boy's hands. Appearing out of nowhere. Without looking up, he stated the result. "This match is a draw."

All were a bit shocked.

"What?"

"No way!"

"That is bullshit. That Lee guy handed him a beating! He dealt that guy twenty time more blows and it wasn't even close."

"What the hell is this?"

There were conversations that merely pointed out compliments to each guy, but were softer in comparison to the chants shouted out loud.

The crowd loved the spectacle, the grit, the dimensions of it. They were up in their seats for many parts of it. It had been a long treat. The other wordly prowess of each contestant was welcomed between gasps and chats of wonder that manifested admiration, the fear for two promising shinobi. But they rather booed than cheered for what had to be the match of the finals so far for the end result.

A tie!

"Disappointing," said Onoki from the stands. Not knowing the current rules… "Does that mean that they won't be taking part any more Kazekage?" When Gaara shook his head… "A pity that we won't see them more then. Scratch whatever I said about the other, this one was great.."

"Not to be disrespectful, Gaara, but I agree with the crowd, Lee landed far more blows and even finished on top of his opponent. Neji was without chakra and hurt while the other kid just had his tenketsu closed." Like that wasn't enough. "I don't see anything even here," Kankuro intervened. Having not seen Lee's fall.

"Then you haven't watched the match," simply countered his brother to his embarrassment.

Tsunade smirked when noticing the faces of everyone in the box. The conversation behind her of her guards talking about what ranked each thought these two belonged…

It was probably best that they physically didn't endure much more. What they had done during these exams was enough, well recorded and sufficient for them both to rise among the ranks.

Kurenai was surprised this time to not see Gai cry but rather smile wholeheartedly, proudly. She herself smiled in response. There had not been a mention of flames or youth in all the clash. It was a miracle.

'How far have you come, guys? Having students like you three makes me very happy!' Thought Gai.

The medical teams appeared and this time around, with no care of the fact that she had a match afterwards, much afterwards, Sakura did indeed come down to help with Lee, no matter how much Ino bugged her or tried to grab a hold of her.

Ino having the last match of this first round, one she won.

Those ending matches while fun didn't reach the hype of the previous one. Not even the Iwagakure clash, a short-lived excitement as the favorite Rinori almost squashed his home rival.

The winners had the benefit of an hour of rest, not a single moment more. Like in a war setting when you don't have a week to train, much less to prepare for a single individual. Their abilities had already been shown, with this test what they were testing was something more. Endurance, character, temperament, willingness…. Thinking deep in fatigue against new foes and abilities. When ducking was not so easy and you weren't so quick on your feet.

The Kages took advantage of the break to speak again, talking among themselves in the interior box. A quiet VIP area where Gaara was serving himself some water while the others respectfully declined his offers of food.

Continuing their previous chat, or rather accepting it's ineludible end with dismay.

"I won't press further Tsuchikage. I won't forsake my people, even yours. I can't. Leaving the Akatsuki do as they please. I expect them to come after me. I just don't know when. We'll be ready." Gaara said.

Little else made sense to say out loud.

"Deidara," said Onoki. Both his fellow Kage's brows turn upwards, not following. "That's our rogue shinobi in their lines. He's in the bingo book, we'll send you whatever information needed that doesn't figure there." His Explosion Release kekkei genkai, the kinjutsu stolen that he was using….

Onoki explained a bit of who he was to the others. They smiled.

"Those that mean... " Gaara could not end.

"I won't be signing no treaty or alliance with you two. It's just in our interest to share that," Onoki claimed, Tsunade snickered, inciting the elder to elaborate in order to recall something to the Kage. "I have dealt one to many deals that have been broken by the other villages, mainly the first alliance with Konoha dealt by Ishikawa that Madara broke." He raised his hand before Tsunade interrupted. He knew that Madara was acting on his own accord, but it didn't matter given what happened after. You learn to hate and distrust after that. "Don't misconstrue me, Kazekage. I know how you both think of me as a preacher of the old ways, and probably I am. Being suspicious is key to survive and callous moves are eventually needed although they might end up leading to war. Lacking in emotion or always prefixing the rational intelligence set in a logic of conflict and distrust. I understand that, but I don't oppose peace, I'm not like that, at least no more." Before that stare. "Don't give me that look, Tsunade, I know my own record and my mistakes. I have dealt with many more wars that you young Kazekage could currently imagine, so I do hope for peace much more badly than you could think. History has taught me that it is impossible for peace or tranquility when dealt within the villages, in between them, and not as the consequences of structural change as the demilitarization previously explained. The means to that peace matter and I can't accept many of your conditions, my country can't deal with another five years like those or to weaken while yours strengthen violating many of our deals. Presume my motives to be what you want, but I can tell you I don't have blind resentment, not even to your Yellow Flash, believe it or not," the people he led was another matter. Onoki himself was the cause of much destruction and death. "We will share information for now. We can't afford to do much more. Won't. Like I said, I have other problems to dedicate to, where to focus our resources."

Onoki would like to hope for change and its endearing opening speech, but having seen none so far and with his experience...

"Let's hope we don't come to regret it then." Ended Tsunade as the conversation turned to an end, Tsunade cursing in her head as she couldn't get back on that topic again.

The fights were called to begin. All rush to the coliseum, most where in the vicinity, taking a stroll or like Tenten going to visit both Neji and Lee at the hospital. Picking Sakura there.

The pink-haired had to face Ameno, a fellow medic shinobi. While Ameno had her Medical Water Style, Water praying mantis jutsu, meaning water mantis's claws materializing from her forearms, while adept and proficient, just like the previous encounter, she couldn't reach Sakura given her evading speed. The battle went on for a little longer, but to no point. Sakura's strength being the deciding factor as she pummeled the ground, altering the landscape, Ameno getting trapped after the blast, Sakura not giving Ameno time to heal herself for the battle to prolong. She left nothing to chance.

Onoki chuckled from the stands, trying to tell the two apart. Besides that diamond in her forehead and the difference in chakra level, it was obvious whose pupil this child was. He stole a glance at Tsunade, who didn't gesticulate a smile.

She was worried of Sakura's chances of exhausting her chakra against whoever she faced in the final, for she predicted Sakura would defeat either Tenten or Hinata as they were set to match. If she went too far, 'Her Byakugō...', the Strength of a Hundred Seal… The gathering of chakra, a process which product physical manifestation was that diamond on Tsunade's forehead, containing amazing power, takes years to attain and the requirement to its accomplishment and fulfillment was to not deplete one's chakra to exhaustion. She would not intervene nor tell her own student to do something she wouldn't have done herself, hold back or forfeit, but this was too high a risk for so little reward.

Little did she know that that thought festered insecurity in Sakura herself. She was not deluded or focused enough in the battles to forget that major detail. The Byakugō was something she had been striving for.

As for Tenten and Hinata... Who won? Hinata was better in close range, faster although weaker in strength than Tenten, capable of eluding her katana; and her Byakugan and clan inherited capacities allowed her to elude Tenten's long-range attacks. Tenten having faced Neji was already used to that fact. Thought herself prepared for that, got frustrated with herself as the match went on and with the fact that she couldn't come up with something for that.

In order to defeat the Byakugan, you either needed to have great speed and superior taijutsu, a powerful long-range Jutsu, or large chakra quantities that allow you to make it a war of attrition, of resistance. Tenten compared to Hinata had neither of those things.

And the girl was aware of her Byakugan blind spot.

In close quarters Tenten tried as a last resort to hit her but failed, the attempts with paper bombs to get the girl out of her stance failed, the continuous attacks led to Tenten's exhaustion.

She fully surrounded Hinata with smoke, attacking from unique positions and approaching from different points. The problem was that if not thick enough, the Byakugan could still see, and the smoke didn't linger for long.

Tenten had no way to temporarily blind her or overpower her, so she fell. Making Hinata victor.

The proctor shrugged, calling for the next ones. The last matches of today before tomorrow's morning semifinal and afternoon final.

"Ino Yamanaka and Mizumitsu Rinori, come down here."

Ino encountered Hinata on the stairs. Hinata and Sakura were Konoha's only one's remaining so far in the semifinals.

Here she was hoping to join them.

Those two were about to face each other in the semifinal. Ino and Rinori fight to face the suddenly called local hero Shira, Suna's last member left. The taijutsu specialist.

That was another chapter altogether. Right now she solely had to face Rinori, who had proved ruthless and untouchable so far. 'Let's see about that.' She thought with confidence and a smile. She was not gonna let Anko down. Like ordered she wore a full vest, mesh, and new clothes upon it, her shirt extending, all comfortable and tasteful, it had style to it.

No longer was her torso, her abdomen precisely, uncovered.

In the stands, Onoki preferred to not utter words and just watch. For this once, he wouldn't let his smart mouth foretell the result of this lopsided fight. Rinori was Iwa's pride after all.

The boy didn't have a scratch on him. The rest of the contestants at least had a torn cloth or something. He seemed like he had just arrived.

Ino was looking forward to wiping that menacing smile from his face.

She knew where resided her chance.

As soon as she saw the proctor open his mouth, she had already reached her back pocket and thrown three kunais that Rinori had to duck. She was fast enough that after a second failed attempt to make contact with the kunai; she was already in his vicinity. Making this a hand to hand fight.

Trying to land her blows.

Rinori deflected a punch and hit her back, bringing his hands together after gaining distance, only managing to do one of the necessary signs as Ino kicked his hands apart.

'I'm not letting you make hand signs,' she was focused on not letting him use any ninjutsu.

As she did, she aimed to kick high, the difference in height sufficient enough for her to barely aim for his chest, Rinori drove the hit away. He tried then to hit her with his left arm, rather than with a punch, flinging it, extending it from his position in his chest to Ino's face with a side movement. Ino grabbed a hold of his wrist and drove it to its original position, raising her leg faking a kick, a false step for him to step back as her next movement was indeed an attack, she raised her right one and aimed up; him having to protect himself with both arms again.

Fully turning and again swinging his arm, Rinori failed to make contact but felt as if he had made enough distance, but Ino closed in again, interchanging blocks and punches as she got close and made use of her quickness before his physical presence and slower movements.

She manages two punches to his head after lowering his leverage with a kick, not knocking him back as he stood near her still, he attempted to return the favor but Ino rerouted his arm up and took a step close, hitting him below the chest with her elbow, kicking him seconds after.

Running after him as he clashed with the wall.

From the stands, all were shocked. Onoki seethed with anger. What was Rinori doing? All present were asking out loud or to themselves if the Iwa kid, this favorite contestant, had no taijutsu skills at all.

They had been shown none so far. He hadn't been neared before.

Sakura stared at Ino and her fighting approach. She shouted out. "Shannaro! Kick his ass, Ino!" Hitting the bar repeatedly, so pumped up that she nearly broke it.

The cheers and her name now reign in the public sphere. A sole conversation motivated Ino's mind, and was behind her plan.

* * *

Anko's words.

"Asuma and your father will ensure you learn your duties regarding your clan inherited abilities, but for the time being you're under my tutelage, you will learn what life is in these kinds of extreme environments, were venturing into another one's mind will grant your death. For no one but your cognizant and present self can ensure your survival. The Yamanaka name might not sound compatible with the immediate front line, but at times you will be forced to Ino, so never limit yourself to the step by step ruling your father preaches you. You ought to learn things outside of the endogamic teachings of your clan."

* * *

To fight like this! Against a foe like him.

She couldn't pull out another mind transfer jutsu with this guy. If only temporarily it would prove pointless and she feared his mastery of his lightning style could be such that he could wake by the mere shock of a few auto induced volts that he performed when she loses a bit of control, leaving her in the open for one of his dangerous techniques.

Spelling her end.

She races with her arm raised ready to deal him another strike against the wall, a second before impact he kicks the sand underneath, boosting and heightening it to Ino's eyes… She consciously raises only one arm while the other drops a present… it's then when he's the one doing the major kick, tossing Ino back three feet away, out of range.

Boom!

The present detonated, and the smoke rose, Ino regained her balance, seeing Rinori basically coming out of the explosion, bruised, with part of his left sleeve broken. She throws another kunai and relentlessly approaches him again, for the thousand time.

Rinori eludes it and brings his hands together.

Ino bites and goes for them. But this time Rinori grabs a hold of her arm and pulls her towards him before hitting her approaching body with his tight. An awful blow. Not letting her arm go as she groans after the pain of the hit.

Not being able to react to the next two fluent kicks.

Now Rinori had the time and the necessary time. Ino raised her sight from the ground.

"Ino, look out!"

"Lighting Style: Raiden's Lash Dance". Shouted Rinori after performing his hand signs quickly.

'That again?'

Ino had seen this in Rinori's fight with the fat guy. She didn't recall the name. The ten strings of lighting from his fingertips approached her in order to grab a hold of her.

When thunder roars, go indoors, they say. Bad thing she couldn't. The strings were shockingly fast as she did her best to elude each, jumping back and hoping she could get out of range. It had to be limited… It was her only chance. She couldn't use her newly discovered chakra affinity, for its weakness was lightning. Just her luck.

She somersault backwards. She may not have ducked Tsunade's onslaught during her training, but Anko's attacks were nothing to take lightly, her evading skills development now coming to fruition.

They continued pursuing, and it occurred to Ino to do one thing. Reaching into her holster, she drew three senbons and threw them to Rinori, the effort in that attack slowing her movement and leading her to be caught by one string on the leg, the others swiftly approaching.

The senbons approached and Rinori didn't move till they were two feet away, only moving an arm and drawing a kunai to deflect them. Poorly for one hit his shoulder. He didn't back away nor move a muscle from his stance as five strings of lighting grabbed a hold of Ino.

The other five deactivated.

"Aaargh!" A loud scream was heard as the voltage increased. Rinori closed his fists.

Sakura clenched the bar till it flattened. That not being its original shape. Fury on her stare as the echoes of her friend's pain were heard all around.

She could see Ino doing her utmost best, fighting the tide, clenching her teeth as she tried to raise her arms and perform the mind transformation jutsu to give herself a break, free herself from the shackles of this lightning, not having seen the senbon landing.

The current was altering her chakra network so much that it didn't allow her to do it.

The light intensified shortly before disappearing.

Mizumitsu suddenly fell to one knee. Bringing his arm to the senbon in his body and drawing it out. "Poison", he concluded.

Ino rose and tumbled. The drug had a paralysing and brief effect. She moved towards Rinori, having sudden small spasms. The aftermath of suffering that attack.

Her previous bet of the jutsu having a short or medium range was wrong, apparently, but the idea that suddenly popped in her mind when not seeing Rinori moved from his original position when performing that move was not.

For such a precise complex jutsu, the power and control required, Rinori needed to stay almost perfectly still and knowing of his predation ways, Ino predicted he was more likely to let himself get hit that let her free of his lightning style once he had her in his clutches.

The crowd roared. A yatta was shouted above them all by a pink-haired girl.

Ino was focused and on the verge of approaching. Drawing her kunai as she reached her before looking at the bastard… Smirking?

She heard an electric hum and immediately felt it, that electricity again shocking her and finally bringing her to the ground.

It was over.

"The winner of these match is Mizumitsu Rinori"

Rinori stood up. The proctor told him to stop his jutsu as Ino was still on the floor near him, convulsing.

Rinori just stood up and left.

'Fucking brat,' the proctor thought as he rescued Ino from the electric field he was sensing. He shouted for the medics to come. Sakura now stopped by a Jonin of the sand, ordered by Tsunade.

As Tsunade herself jumped to the field to look after the girl.

The other kages having different responses. Onoki had newfound respect for that girl and thought wise to remember her name, although smiled in relief, this one was closer than it should have been.

Gaara questioned if he resembled that boy during his previous exams. He could perfectly be called worse, he killed after all. His control of lighting, while not on par with his own sand, was impressive.

Everyone was flabbergasted. The fight as a whole was a shock. But… They didn't understand it. What happened?

'Ino...' Her friend's name lingered, awakening sadness seeing her state. Sakura was not just angry, it was something else. She turned to Hinata, wanting to know what in the hell had just occurred before everyone's eyes. "What happened Hinata?"

Hinata could only explain so much, the fact that below Rinori appeared chakra that remained underground, encircling him.

He was the power source.

None of them understood, but both an angry Shikamaru and a surprised Temari did, alongside the few lightning users shinobi on the stands and their Kage. Obviously every Iwa member having knowledge of it.

A ground current.

Lightning can strike its victims in many ways besides a direct strike. After it hits an object, much of the energy travels outward from the strike in and along the ground surface. Anyone near the landing strike zone could fall victim to it. It often kills livestock when it happens.

In this case, defeating Ino. Rinori himself is the power source of the ground current, think of it like creating an all around mined camp. Even in his knees, with no hand signs, he could alter his chakra and morphed it to strike the ground through his feet as a last resort when facing defeat.

With no hand signs! He didn't have to move a muscle, not that he could.

Gaara looked sideways at the Tsuchikage and wondered why would someone with such elite control and ninjutsu prowess be still a genin. With his age, he was older than Ino and the others. For his lack of taijutsu? What… What was it? Among his genin and even chunin, Gaara didn't have someone with that level of abilities.

He didn't want to be hasty nor victim of the moment, but it would be a well regarded raiton capacity even in the homeland where its most legendary wielders use it. In Kumogakure.

The exams were to continue tomorrow, having his plan of maintaining them proved well so far.

* * *

Somewhere in the land of Earth, a day after...

A masked man, Madara, surged out of the nothingness upon a sizable tree localized in on the vertical wall of a rock formation, looking over the low grounds in between the mountains, the path, and the temple that was under it.

It was situated poorly, strategically speaking, having in mind that shinobi could climb down walls and this elevation side had vegetation significant enough where to hide and rest before taking the final strides. Just above them.

It was an unguardable position located in a remote although beautiful landscape.

He could practically see the courtyard.

Zetsu appeared beside him, finally. Madara didn't bother asking, he just knew they wouldn't be here if they didn't have it.

The strange being handed him the files for him to read. As he opened it, he asked how all had gone.

"I take it you follow the plan," he uttered. When Zetsu nodded, he just further his punctuation. "Any problems."

"They were suspicious. Fortunately, I gained memory of the matter they were asking, so I didn't have to improvise," confessed the White Zetsu.

"Good. You may be many things, but a good actor you're not. Not that intelligent either. Good thing you didn't go beyond the script of this man's available memories and what we told you." Madara started reading it, his facial expressions not discernible under that mask. "Rather than me asking point per point if all went smoothly, and you followed each part, just tell me now if you made a single mistake, for as minuscule as it may be."

"I don't think I did, no." The white Zetsu claimed, although with some stutter. He had copied the file. The original man he portrayed and whose chakra he stole to turn into was in his house with a heading, alive and probably not waking up for a day. He had some help from Sasori's spy. He performed splendidly if he could say so himself.

Madara just made a noise that, while ambiguous, showed distrust in that claim, a lack of faith.

Right now they were above a sensing field that surrounded the hidden place where Rōshi was being hidden by Iwagakure. Iwa had been moving the Jinchūriki around conclaves like this one secretly in certain patterns while claiming false information in official meetings and messages, where the supposed locations were distinct altogether, basically a ruse designed to fish who was giving information.

They had been moving around and treating him like fairly nice apparently, probably better than he had ever known, although with no freedom of movement.

Madara sighed as he read the notes from this guy's psychologist, a field only Iwa invested in and where this madman had been sent to after his different episodes of freakouts.

That he somehow controlled his Biju was a testament to his will, and the seal he had on, courtesy of a stolen upgrade. Madara already had information on his abilities, he just needed to know this before meeting the man.

Of all the serial killers or nut jobs he had met, he was glad to have come by Hidan. Or at least heard of him from Nagato and Konan. He was the least easily constructed and defined, the hardest least graspable of those he had met. Not so stereotypical built. Not so easily manipulated or deceived. He didn't come from a broken household where either the parents were dead, killed before the children eyes, and he was not looked after or where they were alive but turn out to be absolute monsters, or someone at least in the family, that either had episodes of drunk violence or raping cases. Hidan was just that crazy and deluded. The rest were… Redundant. He had seen many of those, and this jinchūriki seems to be no exception. Rather a magnification.

When reading Rōshi's beatings records… He was a jinchūriki after all, but even though this was brutal. You didn't want to read in detail how he ended up in a coma, his head fully bandaged. Why he needed that piece of armour running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Madara himself hadn't heard of that type of injury.

He smiled when reading that there hadn't been many episodes of losing control of the creature inside him.

Madara read it all, all the main points.

The subject has suffered from an internalization of his socially constructed representation, that of a violent monster, a threat; therefore, reproducing in his self-representation some patterns referring into interpersonal relationships, expressions… The notion of being incapable of being loved. Signs of conceiving himself as a different being, not categorizing himself to be human, not excluding a single subject else from being it. It is not an identification or alignment towards his Biju, for he deeply detest it. He claims to be able to control his beast's will and intent when using his chakra with his own hate (Rōshi's) alone, being able to subjugate it and having control till the fourth tails appears, something he has recalled to only happen one time.

….

Disliking even, at the time, the recently deceased Han and his Biju. Worrisome ill desires for Han and joy in the fact of his death. I cannot conclude if it comes from an internal hatred towards himself… Interesting that he couldn't find common ground with someone of his condition…

….

No signs of remorse, some patterns of psychopathy, unsurprisingly. Although not like first imagined […] Lack of empathy towards others' pain, physical or emotional, lack of guilt and remorse when killing, independently of the victims' age or sex, health, origin […] I can't claim he confesses joy in it, not having been on the field with him, I cannot say. It may be some resentment release mechanism, self-perceived healing, although partners' confessions could easily lead me to believe that indeed he does thus making my doubt meaningless or my unfounded guessing the more invalid…

...

Socially it has already been pointed out that the possibility of stigmatizing a person (with a greater or lesser reason) entails a certain social rejection, which causes the person to seek refuge with those who do not censor him (other stigmatized) thus reinforcing the identity deviant, this case being a Jinchūriki is magnified and here comes the most interesting part. That person where he has sought refuge is actually Okoda, that relationship is interesting and in need of a full study of its own. Rōshi fully depends on Okoda at all levels...

...

Okoda who, as I have indeed pointed out, does have a thrill for killing and torture. He may be the source of it. I don't know yet. It ain't love like a parental bond, but Rōshi is trying to emulate all Okoda does, portraying it, a father-son dynamic ain't a precise way to describe it. Okoda is an authority Rōshi obeys… Only signs of remorse or actual guilt are around him… Unknown consequences of such figure recent death in the patient, besides a growing tendency for irregular behaviors and an identity crisis...'

Madara continued reading about that, some were beyond his knowledge and interest.

'It's beyond my capacities or anyone's to reroute this behavior. There's zero chance of correction or reintroduction into society. We are talking about an old subject, not a child. I professionally recommend going through the operation given this patient's mental health and I do claim him to be a danger to our village and country, for whom he has showcased no particular behavior. To be concluded away from the nucleus of population. Not claiming any intentions so far...'

"I mean, this is just too easy," Madara said. It did sound like it. He had tampered with far more complex individuals.

"What now? Why go through all this," Zetsu asked.

"They are gonna transfer the Yonbi into another host, a baby that wouldn't survive the extraction process if we were to attempt it. We've got to stop that. Rōshi here is therefore going to be killed. He's become too much trouble for what he is worth, even though he's a Jinchūriki with functioning, not total, control of his Biju and a top-tier Jōnin; and the trouble that supposes for another host to learn everything again. Onoki is cleaning house." Madara responded as he searched for anything else among the file. No wonder he was getting replaced.

"What are you going to do with him?" Asked Zetsu presuming that he had to stop the beast transfer between the adult and the infant.

"With an ostracized shinobi full of hate, killing desires and about to be used as a scapegoat, about to be slain by his homeland, a Jinchūriki with his days numbered..." The tone Madara was using, it was obvious that if not smiling, it was for self-control, because he couldn't hide his enjoyment. He was about to show Rōshi the truth. "You will see."

* * *

A week later.

All the genin from Konoha 11 were called in the Hokage's office. As they entered, in a fit of laughter, it was when seeing Tsunade, Shizune, and the two elders that they decided it was best to turn down their volume and just to listen at once.

"Shikamaru, you're here," Ino called for him. He was at the side of the entrance, behind the door. Almost sleeping, the lazy jackass, as Ino mentally called her.

Shikamaru didn't respond, bothered, and focused on the topic of discussion that Tsunade brought up before they entered. His own Jōnin promotion. Asking him if he would pursue it.

"All right everyone, listen up," She stated from her position. "We've been going through all your exam reports and getting second opinions from the elders, Jonins, and in some of your cases, your clans."

"Hinata, Shino, Ino, Choji, Lee, Kiba, and Tenten, you breezed through the exams. You have done more than enough. Congratulations, from now one you seven are chunin of this village," some promotions being unanimous while the Akimichi and the Inuzuka being the point of long discussion. Even against the clan's desires, believe it or not, Choji was the latter part in that ranking, and it was the elders that argued and incited his promotion. Probably the Ino-Shika-Chō trio in their minds.

One member of the committee even pointed out Ino for Jōnin, the others thought of that as nothing more than a reach.

While in an official meeting they all smiled and celebrated, relieved, and who could blame them. Akamaru raising up and putting his paws on Kiba's shoulder, licking his face. The rest living a shortly lived, like 10-second party, as she had to still address the remaining members.

Sakura and Neji. The first of which looks down, thinking the worst.

"Sakura. We have branded you with the special position of Tokubetsu Jōnin. All three of us Kage saw fit to give you a position above. Congratulations." And it was not for being so close to winning the tournament. Tokubetsu Jōnin was not a position necessarily in between chunin and Jōnin… Well, kind of. At least this once is how they used it. To showcase how far she had reached and that she was beyond the Chunin position. It was given to ninjas who excel in a specific area. And while false for Sakura, since she was much more than a medical shinobi, although already a top tier in that regard, it was given like that. Tsunade and the council weren't ready to offer her the Jōnin rank, so instead resorted to this.

Lee was put in a similar position. Onoki and Gaara claimed out loud that if it was their call, they would have promoted the youngling to at least that position, if not directly to Jonin.

Onoki didn't know Lee's whole story. Tsunade didn't blame them for being shocked by his power. Lee's present weakness for genjutsu and lack of ninjutsu, his injury-prone skill, given that he had not yet fully mastered it, and his deficiency in planning and assessing the situation were what stopped her from promoting him further, against many voices. He will reach there in the future, but presently she thought of that to be an unwise decision.

Sakura smiled and celebrated, all felicitate her.

"As for you Neji," She quickly focused on him before his comrades asked for an upgrade in his position. "No position was more adamantly defended than the one of you making Jōnin, by the Kazekage's recommendation. Your performance in his rescue and your overall record leave little doubt that you're worthy of that position. It was unanimous." A double promotion.

Neji smiled and modestly bowed, before being embraced against his will.

The overall demeanor of the room was of joy and personal pride. Rejoicing in their achievement. Sakura and Ino embracing each other while Sakura asked in between gasp what was the position she was given, not knowing what it entailed. Neji smiled as Hinata hugged him instead of Lee.

Choji shouting out loud the destination of the party, a barbecue in Yakiniku Q to a cheering shout from all around him before smiles from the leaders of the village and the frowns of the elders.

'They have a bright future,' thought Shizune with a noticed smile. Tsunade meanwhile tried to figure out if they were ready, Konoha's corps as a whole, inadvertently saying in her mind something along the lines of: 'We better be.'

* * *

**Happy Holidays!**


	13. Call Back

Every human being, if capable of recalling with precision each moment of their lives, like filmed and stored frame by frame with perfection within the reckonings of their mind, the first thing they would hear when making their act of presence to this world is a cry.

Their own.

Their petulant cries for aid, signaling nothing more than the appearance of another mouth to feed, another future power-hungry bastard that would do anything to attain it. The birth of this land's more callous and untrustworthy animal.

Unlike them, I didn't come in between sobs, too weak to even stand on my own accord. I didn't come to be that way, after all, I'm not human, for which I thank whom I shall. There was no cry, there was nothing, just a new and sudden presence product of the actions of an old man, the Sage of the Six Paths.

Hagoromo Otsutsuki, or Jiji as I would never refrain myself from calling him.

I am a fully conscious being that for whatever reason appeared. Our origin, for my emergence was not a standalone script, a topic of secrecy perpetuated and guarded among those human contemporaries to it. Till all perished, without leaving us even a scripture behind.

The only word Jiji shared with us was that despite our separation, we were all linked. From our separation from what? I play that memory time and time again; it bothering me more than it does and did to the supposed counterparts of that origin.

The words I won't ever forget as I firstly cried, the words he uttered as his life waned and he thought fit to say goodbye.

To give us each a place where to search for purpose.

"I will not live much longer," he started as we all surrounded him around a seal. We already were ten times his size, despite being young. "Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki, and Kurama. Even if you're far apart, you will always be together, and eventually, the day will come when you will be united again… Each of you with a unique name and a different form than before, and unlike when you were inside me, you shall be led properly. I hope you learn what true strength is before that time."

I believed in him so much… To the point that I was blind. So much that his words of 'shall be led' slip past me. Like we were cattle? Tied to someone's path or desires.

That and his faint praise of humanity. I don't know which of his ideas, speeches aged the best? If any of his naïve ways. I believed he lived long enough to see how his gift to humanity was weaponized, first by his own children and then by the impending order in this world. What would become the shinobi world.

That part of history we knew, although not lived. Not that the sequel was a fairytale, the contrary.

Ninshū, the Ninja Creed, was a train of thought supported around the idea of peace that instead gave birth to ninjutsu, which caused the world to fall into its current darkness. The chakra he shared with the people originally was meant to be a linking power in between people's spiritual energy.

But what those tricky and cunning humans he underestimated did was to link that energy to their physical one, what by now is described as the updated notion of chakra itself. Furthering human capacity for destruction by augmenting each individual's abilities.

Ninjutsu. A tool that gave way to war, domination, and fear.

And yet he entrusted us to them. Linked our purpose to them. How could any strength realign with that, Jiji?

Did you even think or imagine what they would turn into? What they would do to me?

While angry I can't help to empathize, I don't know in hopes for what.

I too saw the best in them, long before you sent me to guard that temple, long before there were even murmurs on it of the wars developing through the lands, with clans partaking in them for payment. And long before I dealt with the worst of them.

The Uchiha.

Although today I am known as the one who deplores them the most, a well-founded opinion, at the time I was the one who gave a chance to the idea of caring for them. I was the one that at first did that, the one who shared the most time with them, unlike my fellow Biju that promptly went on their own way.

I loved the temple and the many of the people in it, the first two generations that still knew of you and cared for what you preached, that saw me as a companion, even a friend.

* * *

This was too long ago to remember the date with precision...

A wood base structure with tiled or thatched roofs characterized the Saihō-ji sanctuary, like most temples. It was in a valley, a lush forest all around, three streams passing near it, one going right through the town, promptly flowing into one of the major rivers of the land, what would come to be the Land of Fire.

A town, for unlike most temples, this one was set by the Six Paths's ideals and religion, so erase any thought of a filled monk area of your mind. This place not only harbored families but a particular creature known by name by those there. A creature which sizes should hinder his mobility and conformability among this clear voided and vegetation filled area.

A joyous child was walking into the mentioned town, to one of the massive courtyards, passing the bridge across the stream, with a chuckle on his face. The rascal had run free and escaped his mother.

Before seeing anything, he heard it. Wind? He asked himself. At first, he thought it resembled his father's lightly snoring, but this couldn't be that. As he continued taking his mini-steps, not being six years old even, he heard the sound again, and he approached it.

While covered for now with a wall, he saw something above it.

Orange.

Turning the corner, he saw the fox, a massive, massive one. Those sounds were his exhales. He was sleeping. Rather than growing scared before a beast, whose nails ought to be bigger than him, his child adventurer sense awakened a smirk and fueled his feet.

He was just a couple of steps away, his stare focused only on one thing. Little did he know that one of his tales wiggled as he waked, one of his eyes sliding open.

Taking the ultimate steps, he got on tiptoes and went for it…

"Sora Hori, could I know in the name of..." Interrupted an angry voice that for a second was scared. She had been searching for him for a minute now. When looking where he was… "What are you doing?"

"Mom!" The boy exclaimed, knowing that he was in trouble.

The mother approached him unceasingly.

"What do you think you're doing running away from me and your grandfather?" She asked as she picked him up. The child didn't know what to respond. "You are in trouble."

The mother heard a chuckle; it was not her son's. "And what are you laughing about, Kurama?"

The fox smiled and closed his only opened eye before her incisive stare. Portraying to have gone back to sleep, or even teasing her by pretending he was asleep all along.

Her son tucked on her ropes, a blush on his face. "Can I touch the snout?"

What?

Her mother suddenly lightens up, "So that's what you were after?" Her mood turned to laughter as she heard Kurama snicker before saying.

"As if."

Her gaze flipping between her son and Kurama as she tried to grab a proper hold of him, not wanting him to fall, swaying him so that chance was erased. Cradling him. With laughter, she warned her son of the horrible dangers, using the tone that she typically reserved when reading the evil guy's lines in one of their bedside stories. Teasing the fox. "No honey, you can't. The great Kurama here will get mad," Her amusement and chuckles quivering her tone as she touches her own son's nose, furthering both smiles and all present moods. "He's a grumpy and old baka. Always sleeping."

"It was not so long ago that you just walked up to me. Unlike him not stopping while your father shouted in pursuit," it was now Kurama's turn to laugh as she stiffened. "You can't hold anything against your son here. After all, he takes it from somewhere, Niko."

Her face was a poem as she recalled her rebellious ways. Her son was wondering. "Oh, mommy was naughty!" He exclaimed.

"Very," continued Kurama with his onslaught, enticing Niko to approach him as his face was fully turned, straight up looking at them. Undermining her authority.

"Would you shut up baka Kitsune! Baka! Baka!" she exclaimed like a child again, fully blushing. Kurama fully laughed.

"Did you let her touch it?" Questioned Sora, her mother recalls.

"She didn't ask for permission, she just went and grabbed it while I was sleeping," responded Kurama.

"Mom!" Overacted the child, provoking, as if he wasn't about to do the same thing himself.

"Well, Sora I did," She started as she grabbed a hold of herself. Full Mom tone ahead. "Which was wrong. I came up to him and grabbed him here, by his black nose," she pinched Kurama in the same place that she did back then, with vengeance in her eyes for the teasing, as Kurama queried if to stifle a laugh, or straight up sneeze in response to the awakening sensation on his nostrils. "Waking him up. He was so surprised that he rose his head up… Way way up, and I had to grab on for dear life! I ended up falling."

"No!" Sora negated in amazement.

"Yep! Fortunately, the sleeping beauty here was capable of catching me with his tails. I must have shouted my lungs out for as long as I was falling." She said, now caressing Kurama instead. "His tails are so fluffy that it was like falling in cotton."

Her son awed.

"Can I?" He asked again. Niko looked at Kurama with a smile as this time her son asked. Closing his eyes, he smiled and nodded while her mother thanked him as she approached Sora. Kurama vowed a bit. Both of Sora's arms were fully extended and expectant, his palms open.

"Gently, honey," Niko advised as her son obeyed, caressing the fox snout with touch and care.

His face once again in awe, not capable of closing his mouth. Probably remaining like that for the week, for whoever long he recalled this.

A voice called for all present in that tender moment.

"Sora-chan, Niko?" The mentioned and searching grandfather saw the three together, "Hello Kurama-dono. Come on you two, we have to go, they are waiting for the feast."

After much protesting and pleads of not leaving, Niko convinced her son they had to go, telling him to go with his grandad. Running, he shouted out loud the tale he had just experienced. "The search for the snout". His grandfather brought a hand to his face as the other grabbed a hold of him, turning and leaving the other two here.

"Did you ask him politely unlike your mom?" He asked, Niko blushing once more as Kurama couldn't stifle any laugh anymore, earning a gentle blow.

"Yes, yes I did," Sora shouted emphatically.

"Good."

They soon disappeared.

"Do you think it's hereditary?" Wondered Niko. "That my grandchildren would come up to you like that?"

"And their grandchildren as well?" Niko nodded at Kurama's temporary expansion. "Unless you put a sign that says, please or you're obligated to touch the charming and handsome Kurama," He responded. "As long as you don't have to follow some rules or better yet for you, you can break them, I cannot see them not doing it." What a family that was.

They already talked if Kurama would still want to. To remain here as the people of the temple lost sight of things. As the newly arrived grew wary of him, many not approaching him and publicly claiming in meetings to restrain him, establishing places where he couldn't go.

Kurama already made up his mind to stay. Not craving much else or not bothered by that.

She laughed. "Yeah, it's probably true… Ah, man. I guess I have to go." She said as she approached the sides of his snout, kissing it. "Thank you, baka."

Looking at her go by, Kurama had no clue of what would happen, the fact that there would be no grandchildren, no next generation. Pushing him existentially to the real confinement, that of being a lone Fox.

* * *

A place where I didn't have to validate my existence or fight for my freedom, where they conceive me for who I showcased myself to be, not as the means to an end, destruction itself without having any knowledge of me.

Disproving of us being sentient beings but tools instead. Calling us to be monsters and demons, things worthy of being killed. Profane beings, therefore, the temple I guarded heretic or worth of distrust, hate. A likely target.

All the people I knew, myself, caught in between war, and the seek for my power.

I knew that they would come for me, but I was foolish in the way I acted. I remained there, and when they attacked us, the title of sacred temple already being disowned, I ended up killing most of the people I knew, the few I cared for, by the collateral damage of my actions when defending it against their shinobi.

When still unknowledgeable of all my capacities to shield those I cherished from harm.

I saw the destruction; the fire that I inadvertently created consuming everything when rushed by their ultimate move as I responded in kind, forgetting where I was. They had a great plan.

The death of everything I held most dear, whom I had known for years, many sons and daughters of their respective fathers and mothers, most of which I met.

What ought to be a century of my life, razed within a day with their help.

That's when I first turned only to hate, as I saw all those lifeless faces, those who saluted me shout at me in ire as they held someone who couldn't utter breath. As I fend the sheer numbers that attacked us and failed to protect the structure into which they all encountered themselves, the pillars collapsed and with it the last plea you asked from me, Jiji.

The temple became ruins. Only capable of saving a third of its inhabitants.

All I had from that point on was hate as I went into hiding, thinking those I desired to meet didn't furthermore want to encounter me or were dead.

Wanting to live outside the climate of wars, they kept finding me to their demise. I was not to sit there, not responding or defending myself, as they hunted me, seeking to control me. The tale of the Kyubi, the rage-filled, fire-spitting, death giving, natural disaster, monster reputation rising to fame. Speaking for me, becoming dogmatic.

The images of that day, of the very people I had seen grow since birth, who seek me for aid and counsel when not for a laugh...

I think it is their vivid image why he awakened so much ire in me that day. The day that did forever change my fate, that sealed it in every way.

Just as I thought, my whereabouts were finally unknown to anyone, and as I foolishly hoped for my existence to be discredited, turning into mere folklore's tale.

The day I saw those eyes for the first time as I sensed his chakra and evil intent. The first time I felt a presence like that. Over the side of the raised landscape, there, fully looking at me from the ground.

That man… The minus thing. The size of one of my fingers. His haughtiness insulting.

"Kyubi," He called for me with a tone I haven't heard before. "This transient form is nothing more than a nodule. You're only a piece of yourself."

"Shut up…" I claimed. I don't know why those were the only words I could come up with. The further along with the speech, each time with more fury. The more hate-driven becoming the pronunciation of each letter in such short words.

My craving for killing him...

"You are just an ignorant, unstable power…" Madara continued, the world unstable inciting me to look back, recalling the day were because of them powers I ended up… Where I... "Those who shall guide you are the Uchiha. You Tailed Beasts are simply servants of those of visual prowess."

Shall be led, should guide you…

Just then I threw myself blindingly at him, his Sharingan circling and his Mangekyou appearing as I heard my last words while still a free Biju.

"Obey".

The next thing I knew I was restrained by the first Hokage, Hashirama. The rest of the tale I've already shared. His words and that of the two Uzumaki's jinchurikis in whom I was sealed after that.

My stay in Mito was incorrigible by the strength of the seal and the powers of Hashirama. Kushina and Minato promised to create a similar situation, but outside forces already known changed the fortune.

All happened before this last one, Uzumaki Naruto. The events of that 10 of October that are now a vital part of the history of that putrid Konoha.

It is easy for me to recall with precision, human's memories are fragile, ours endure and can dwell in a vivid past we can recreate with great detail.

I remember waking up once more after my failure and asking myself where I was. Hearing the cries of an infant. I was shrewd enough to realize the position I was in.

To realize that I was inside the kid I tried to kill. An effort I thought to be the only one towards being finally free after so long.

Realizing that it was an Eight Trigram seal, I became aware of the Fourth Hokage's plan for the kid. To let him use my power, confident that with half my self taken away I wouldn't break it. Forcing his ideals upon me and upon the child. Seriously underestimating me. Me...! The very one those Jinchuriki had to go so far to restrain.

The seal design that let the kid make use of my power had a major flaw, its virtue being its downfall. One that I could exploit. It deteriorated each time he used my chakra. The more he made use of it the further the deterioration reached, till at last I was free.

I kept sending small amounts of chakra through the cracks, the maximum quantity the seal would allow, resigning myself to the wait as I ensured that it eventually weakened.

I consciously gave the kid my power.

The excruciating wait that it was till he could use it was another story on its own. One boring one as I watched this boy's life, with my arms folded.

This kid had no talent! No matter how exceptional both his parents were... There was truly no guarantee this one would inherit either of their abilities. God forbid he had his mother's chains, not signaling of that so far.

That on the positive side would mean that if in danger, he would require my power for his incompetence. But furthered the wait.

I was thankful, because for a moment I even thought he wouldn't get to be a shinobi by his development.

How could this kid ever develop? As I watched him endure everything I could imagine. His knowledge development was better put by that Iruka guy for whom Naruto first exploited his chakra, creating a thousand clones to protect, before Naruto left on his trip.

* * *

"Tomorrow, Naruto. After tomorrow you are going to depart with one of the more notable, experienced ninjas this village has ever seen. Take nothing for granted. Remember how big of an opportunity this is. Dedicate yourself to this." This was the last piece of advice Iruka would give Naruto in some time.

"Not like the academy," Said Naruto, seemingly adding what Iruka could have in mind.

"Definitely not like the academy." There was a necessary pause in there. A deep breath. "Naruto, I know Mitsuki and other teachers despise you and wish ill upon you. It's not a matter of pretending, but our undying wish to install knowledge and love, or rather practicality to what we teach, isn't always there and it wasn't there with you. We ought to be passionate about teaching and knowledgeable, kind enough to know the difference between you and your burden," Naruto looks at him, understanding, but rather searching for the focal point. "What I mean is that the academy and most of your childhood has been a terrible atmosphere for your development as a shinobi and a person. This is the chance that they stole you off, Naruto. Take it and run with it with pace, cunning intelligence, not looking back. Many of us believe in you." Said an upfront Iruka. Naruto couldn't help but smile, a non-erasable and honest heartfelt smile.

* * *

That typification "unpleasant atmosphere" wouldn't cut it.

When seeing my host's life, I previously thought only about how to break free from it, with no care if I killed him in the process. There was no empathy for what actions he suffered, but just hate for who committed them.

No care for his environment or relations as long as it led to conflict and battle, angst, for there remained the key part of my plan. For it is in situations where his life is in danger or when he's emotionally at the brink that my power can channel more freely, weakening the seal.

The beatings and the persecutions… The loneliness and the impotence this child felt meant very little to me with his incapacity to use or channel chakra. I side-eyed his perpetual instances of bullying. The rejection of each person he approached. People taking advantage of his emotional need, using his emotions and playing with them, making him do things just so they bothered to think of the chance of letting him in their group. Never actually letting him. Making him steal things for which he was at least slapped or more when caught, or all other kinds of dubious acts, the degrees of innocence varying. And I'm just talking about kids, groups of them doing that… The characteristic kindness of humankind. No need to speak of adults, although Mizuki played the boy similarly when telling him to steal the scroll.

I thought of the boy to be just gullible, foolish… An idiot. An increasingly ignorant idiot, who had grown over time fond of the idea of protecting the same place and people that did all the things I whiteness. To not only forgive them but to protect them?

What a fool.

It was only after he learned that basic step of channeling chakra and took steps forward along the shinobi life, in his case rushing in situations he wasn't ready to face or doing things that require chakra, more chakra, mine after he exhausted his, that I could take things forward, advance.

All spurred in part thanks to an emotion deeper than the previous sorrowful ones, his will to protect the only people that had given him a chance, or who they paired him with. Those he could hope to call friends.

You could somewhat also point to his dream of becoming Hokage and being acknowledged.

Ironically, one of his partners turns out to be an Uchiha, the last one. Regrettable was the fact that one still remains. When I mean ironic, I don't mean unlikely, the chance of him being coupled with Naruto to control me with his Sharingan if the time came likely.

Haku's, when I first showcased, and Orochimaru's fights to protect those two of Team 7 helped. They were the bright light I could see from the darkness of my cage. It was one of the many occasions I needed for the seal to dampen. While it was good and all, it wasn't sufficient. I needed the boy to use my power consciously and regularly.

Although unlucky in life, shortly after the snake incident the toad made its appearance, making me shout in relief. Things going my way for once, my opportunity just appearing in front of the boy.

I knew the Fourth Hokage's master and knew he was probably going to pass Minato's ideas to the kid, trying to control me and my chakra. He was just a clueless fool. They both acted as if my power was the boy's own and that its use meant nothing.

To have so little knowledge of the seal that holds me is insulting.

As a product of that encounter came our first meeting when falling to our deaths, the boy's sudden surprise when he met my eyes. He didn't remain fearful for long to my shock.

Paying rent? That insolent brat dared.

After that, the Sanin thought that Naruto could draw it on his own without me allowing it, training him to control the maximum amount I could send when demanded. Neji's fight after that just to exemplify. Gaara's and Sasuke afterward, the ultimate one key. I joyed as he kept using my power and relying on it. Healing his wounds was no effort, as the price in exchange was for the seal to diminish substantially.

And then, despite not having shown evidence of progress, the fool of this boy sensei loosened the seal, allowing me to influence things more than before. Allowing me to, with effort, speak to him and incite anger, chaos, everything but control. To derail things.

In the first week of training him with my power, it took him very little to go on a rampage, which meant I was already halfway there. I just needed time…

They curtailed me.

They had to go to the Hidden Eddy Village and tell the brat of his parents! Of what they thought happened! Couldn't they have gone to another single place or keep their disgusting mouths shut?

Subsequently, in haste, Naruto promised himself to never use my power, grew to despise me and train so he didn't rely on it, so his true strength was altogether just his own, separated from mine.

A thought short-lived.

At that point I was fully expectant for the Uzumaki fuinjutsu experts to strengthen the seal or warn the Sannin of what was happening, what I was doing, warning him and berate him for his recklessness, all hindering my campaign and efforts, the work of thirteen years. This seal was their design. If recalled correctly, it was my previous holder's mother that taught this one to the Fourth Hokage.

I didn't dare smile when that first time around in the island went by and Naruto, despite the months in the island, didn't share or show them the seal, out of distrust and a bit of inadvertent resentment. I expected it to happen, eventually.

Hated been proved right.

It was in the second meeting, when he was dragged by the Sannin back to the village beyond the whirlpools, that that cunning woman warned him personally as Naruto showed her the seal and the key stored in that toad.

This occurred after all that had happened, after Naruto's efforts of gaining my trust as I dealt with the facts laid out by Matatabi and her Jinchuriki, who, influenced by her, did her best to badger me… They even sounded the same. After meeting Chōmei.

After uttering other things that weren't threats between us.

Just as I bothered to look into the chance of aiding to whom I was prisoner…

The boy has not said a word to me since then. Which is surprising. After all that had happened and realizing my efforts and patient plan to kill him, he hasn't faced me or reproached anything. Just solely claiming that he didn't know what to do next. That he could solely pretend to understand.

Understand what?

In my mind the question being, just what is he? Besides an annoying conundrum. "I hope you learn what true strength is before that time," Jiji said. I call strength and endurance of the mind to those who try to understand this one's.

What strength? Strength in protecting those you care for? Like this boy who was callously led. Almost killed by his friend… Or in forgiveness? So you keep getting beaten up to a pulp or you don't hold accountable people that hurt you with no consequence…

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze….

I would like to think of him as nothing more than a Jinchuriki, us Biju's natural distrust for them, just him in this case, still present. But I don't… I don't know. After all I've observed...

The only thing I do know is that he is better than being controlled by an Uchiha… What point am I in my life when that is something to sound relieved by?

* * *

"Naruto," a voice called for the youngling.

The grown youngling. It had been months till last seen near the shores of the continent.

He had excused himself from the town gathering just to head to one harmonious yet not peaceable spot most cherished in the village. A small rock formation, decorated with moss, that while slippery and damp, added an aesthetic value, near the lake in the middle of New Uzushiogakure. The topnotch fact of it was the moonlight projected on the water near the chosen site.

He had been told that in past times, fireflies used to habit it, creating quite the spectacle in the night. The most romantic place one could ask for, where couples could ask everything of each other while simply doing nothing as they stared, embracing one another, at the view.

He thought it was a delightful story; it was fresh in his mind because he had just heard it ten minutes ago. Although he expected to be alone, given the dimensions of the place, he was not for long. This not being the first one to call for his name, obviously.

"What are you doing here, you coward!" Naruto turned to the deep voice that slurred each syllable of those words. The voice being overdramatized as well, portraying to be a man or the idea of it that she had. What character she was pretending to act, Naruto had no clue. "Unable to withstand the company of the illustrious names of this land as they all confess their epic adventures around the fire? The tale of the battle of Hanakusa or the disembarkment in Port City, the Kirigakure strife that would proceed such a miraculous feat." For each battle, there was a pose of its own, a theatrical physical rendition. "The battle at sea under the hurricanes of yesteryear, where men and women battled to death eluding giants waves and most drowning, not having the stamina to keep themselves on top of the water. The enemy faster than the Uzumaki of course. The tale only known in our history for the battleground sole survivor's effort to pass it on." Naruto almost facepalmed. "Each the grandest. Alluring people alike, all longing to emulate them to find significance in their sorry lives, who pale in comparison."

While one could think she was sauced, wondering what was her poison, Naruto caught on the over the top portrayal. Besides, someone so drunk doesn't remember all those actual battles. For all he knew of alcohol… Wait a second, he knew nothing about alcohol.

He had to read about the village's history to satiate his hunger to know more about the Uzumaki and to understand what the hell they were talking about. Historic references, figures... Having lived for two decades, almost secluded for the world and its changes… They were a bit anachronistic, nothing major, just some words flying past Naruto. He had to get up to date to understand them, struggled a bit at it.

Did you know, for example, that Uzhiogakure actually was the Hidden Eddy Village?

Well, Naruto had no clue. He at first thought that all were Uzumaki, which made no sense since it's not a pattern that has ever happened in any culture or human grouping, but he believed it anyway. It was the first impulse, Jiraiya hadn't warned him otherwise. It took him an embarrassingly long time to figure it out.

Turns out that it was a complex story of domination and Uzumaki control over a few other clans that conformed the village, who try to challenge them for their abuse of power later on… The Uzumaki like the Senju and Uchiha were the founding clans of their respective villages. There the name, Uzushiogakure. So yeah. Actually, part of the reason they lost the war so fast is that many clans betrayed the chain of command made in its majority by redheads and many citizens weren't willing to remain here to fight for the current regime, fleeing off the island on day one. Not holding it any longer as their home.

The all-around number of deaths and of those who fled not being as precise as they previously told him.

What level of tensions or animosity needed to be there for that to happen? Naruto couldn't imagine any clan in Konoha doing something similar, having set their roots in that land for generations.

One clan, the Mitsunari clan, even gave info to the enemy and warned them of barriers and security. They warned Naruto that upon the mere mention of who he was, they would attack him. Now a clan of Kirigakure, former enemy and invader of the island.

Of the few survivors present in the village, a third of them weren't Uzumaki. Or Uzumaki of the third generation, meaning that neither their parents nor grandparents were of the clan, any of them.

Still not a sufficient incest eluding incest.

How did he come to know any of this if the Uzumaki had such power and control? Capable of writing the island's history as nothing more than an Uzumaki's compliment filled letter. Well, by the overall self-referential and self-critical thought process of the thinkers of the island.

Majorly thanks to the woman that was calling for him. The only pleasant know it all that Naruto had ever known, the know it all aware of the subject of Uzumaki fuck ups.

"Miwari?" Naruto said as he only turned his upper body sideways, so he could clearly see her. Wary if she was stumbling at all. "Are you drunk?"

"What of it?" Miwari said as she took a seat next to the boy. "Are you in the business of judging comfortable people who are just having fun or what?"

Naruto raised his hands defensively, fearful. Making Miwari laugh.

'Oh man,' the blonde almost pouted, thinking what was about to happen.

"Pretending kiddo, not much of a drinker, nothing good is brewed here. A sorrowful and tear-filled stop in a drunk's life," She said. "No, scratch that, actual hell."

Naruto chuckled. Despite much reluctance, he had gained most of the villagers' trust or wiggle into their good side. Not inspiring devotion, but not attracting ill intent. The difference between the first arrival and the recent one… Astronomical.

There were of course quantifiable exceptions…

"What are you doing here while all the strugglers are trying to keep the party going?" She asked. "Trying to elude Ashina?"

"What?" Naruto wasn't… Was he? "No. I wanted just to look back into a couple of things."

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun, it's nothing personal."

"It isn't?" Naruto questioned with wonder. It didn't seem to be that way. Ashina hated his guts from the moment he stepped on the island.

"She just has a thing for strangers. Doesn't like them," confessed Miwari.

"Oh…" He almost breaths out with discomfort but hopeful for change. It was ten seconds after that Naruto fell on something. Miwari smiled. "Oh, wait. I'm the only stranger she knows!" How could it not be personal?

Miwari cackled with laughter. It was easy for the boy to be singled out. Jiraiya was the only other stranger the girl had seen at least twice.

Naruto felt a cloud over him, darkening. He looked down in a slight depression. During their sparring sessions, he appreciated the intensity and how much like an actual fight it was, felt, but later realized that it wasn't coming from a nice place. Even Ashina's father had warmed up to him, despite first impressions. He didn't presume that anyone had to like him; he wasn't about to force it on someone. But she was set out to fight him, beat him… Undermine him. Etcetera.

"Don't think she will get over it. That young lady..." Miwari smirked again as she thought of another young woman in the vicinity, the one who had approached and interrupted Naruto earlier. "What about Amazora? She seems to have taken a liking in you." From one spectrum to the other.

Naruto just gave her a dumbfounded face. "What about her?" Amazora was a dazzling and light brown and short-haired girl, a year older than him, that unlike Ashina was no Uzumaki and was not a meanie to him.

"Thou shalt let light irrupt!" Exclaimed Miwari with a laugh.

Naruto meanwhile… "What?" That one he didn't understand. Idioms and expressions... The Uzumaki's colloquial metaphors were not his forte.

Taking a deep breath as if thinking of the tedious task ahead after hearing Amazora's protests.

"Naruto-kun, I want you to tell me what she told you so I can assess the severity of the situation," she claimed. She sounded like she had diagnosed something serious and was minutes away from surgery.

'The severity? What is she talking about?' Naruto thought. After much internal discussion, he budges, confessing much of what was told, trying to remember her expressions, when asked what they were, when. Miwari presumed many details had passed him by.

Miwari looked like she had before her the greatest challenge known to humanity. She asked. "Naruto-kun, do you know when a girl is flirting with you?"

"Huh?" It took him a minute. He didn't have to ask where it was coming from, given the context. For as slow as he was in catching Amazora's forward insinuations, when thinking back to Hinata and Kiba's claim that he was sir clueless himself, he jumped. "Don't tell me… Not again, dattebayo!" And here he thought he had progressed in all fields, he had even read Jiraiya's books… Was that appropriate material? "Was she… Flirting?"

They didn't have such luck. Miwari hoped that the boy had done it on purpose under the suspicion that his sensei, Jiraiya, was lurking somewhere and using him as inspiration, as Naruto confessed to her he feared.

"Well, I… You know. She just approached me and..." Little by little, Naruto confessed what little he recalled about their interactions since arriving, not just the already confided events of the night. In between that and what Miwari herself saw, she was close to shouting out loud Naruto's emergency status to the world.

He was so blind that Miwari didn't bother to tease the boy.

Naruto didn't follow nor catch any of the sexual innuendos, and we are talking here about a ribald and unapologetically flirting person. Not the most subtle of figures.

It's like he didn't want to see it at this point.

At least it probably meant the boy was immune to seduction techniques.

He didn't catch the usual things. and it was not that he was unaware of what they were, the contrary. The eye contact, Amazora going out of her way to slightly touch him, noticeable to anyone that had seen the pair recently, asking him questions continuously, purposely; almost stereotypically playing with her hair… Amazora was not one to fake a laugh, but she smiled at the boy without ever ceasing. The giggling...

He didn't follow any hint, till now that was. Not that he felt like he had lost an enormous opportunity or anything like that. This didn't have the stakes and emotional history and significance that it had with Hinata, although the result wouldn't differ much. He would end up rejecting her anyway, but… 'Argh! I'm a baka.'

He was.

Where to start with him, though? Miwari didn't know who Naruto was around women whom he acknowledges, who appealed to him to where he would like for something beyond friendly chatter to appear on the table, be it sex or something else. If there was such a person beyond the one she knew.

That Naruto had no regard for any authority, would talk them to their level and strip them away from the suffix sama at the end of their names, being always insolent, meant nothing in other circumstances. Would he be so unchangeably him when, rather than facing one of the most powerful figures in the world, he was touched upon his shoulder by the sultry caress of a breathtaking woman that longed for him, be it for long as it needed to be?

Or would he blush, stammer, and ultimately crumble. Not capable of following her provocative banter as she hoped for the zipper of his mouth to never be closed, his wits, emotional, and intellectual capacity fully exposed.

How to know?

She wasn't about to test it herself; she was quite older than he was. Jiraiya had told her that the boy was shy and a bit insecure, that Naruto didn't make anything out of the insinuations coming his way in that sense.

The part she picked up and made her content, as they went on and she explained, was that she didn't have to take the boy down a peg or two, was he to think that in every interaction he had with a girl laid a chance for depression. Like each word he uttered meant the world to them, therefore stopping him from telling or confessing he didn't like mentioned person. When all it could be is just a daring attempt.

A rejection just being someone's opinion.

In no way he thought his mere presence awakening of lust and mad desire. Quite the contrary. Which was bad in another sense altogether, a recipe for some awkwardness and actual hurt when not acknowledging someone close.

He lacked the confidence that he usually showcased and that exhorted people to follow him, or at least to subscribe too to his robust code of ethics. To the aspiration he has, that she recognized and respected since meeting him.

There was no automatic heartbreak, unless they were teenagers, upon rejection from a man they barely knew, and in this case from a girl, Amazora, that was aware that he would leave the village regardless, promptly.

Miwari found the boy courteous, having that going for him. He didn't expect something in return for his actions, believing like they owed him afterwards.

Unlike Hinata, Amazora was a self-possessed, confident woman that did not quarrel much with the idea of indulging in teasing banter and taking the initiative when talking with a boy she fancied, she just goes for it. Nor had a problem with rejection, if anything Naruto caused her frustration. She was a rare mix given that there were so few people her age, social factors orienting her to just be tied to whoever was available and hold on to him. The ratio of men being lesser than women on the island.

Now thinking about it, Miwari asked herself since when she was a love or flirtation expert… Here being all preachy. The only thing qualifying her for this conversation is that she was the one that knew Naruto the best. "Naruto-kun, wait here a second."

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked somewhat fearfully.

"To get Amazora," Miwari simply blurted out. Naruto blushed and swiftly tried to get a hold of Miwari's arm as the agile woman already stepped up and eluded his attempt.

He took other measures... Begged with a shout.

"No!" That was the last conversation he wanted to have, currently and in the immediate future. He would embarrass after what he realized.

"Since when are you so shy, Naruto-kun? Don't worry, I will not force you to make it up to her by forcing you to kiss and confront her in front of us or anything similar. Don't have to, you should rejoice. It is common" before fully walking to the center of the village and upon noticing Naruto's movements, she warned. A dark aura surrounding her. "Dare try to run away Naruto... You would be wise to fear what I would do to you if I don't find you here."

'Scary,' blurted a desperate Naruto in his head with no second thought.

"Besides, didn't you let her put a wreath upon your shoulders?" She asked. Naruto grew confused again.

"What?" He remembered wearing a wreath at some point yeah, but what was so special about it? Besides the fact that it was not for a doorstep but rather a comfortable attire complement.

"Oh, and me here thinking that you had problems with women! You are set," She extended those last syllables for way too long. "You have no more, wait here. You didn't finish the..." She didn't end her phrase.

Jiraiya was in an enormous tent, concluding some things with the members in command here, Miwari the only one not present… A shame since she was the one who hated him less among the attendants.

Good thing he was careless and senseless enough to leave Naruto here alone while he did missions and organize some things on the continent, because remaining here without punctual leaves would have been a pain in the ass.

He had just communicated to them they had to leave. The realization showed up as he noticed the calendar.

'Our time has come to an end. We ought to return to the village.'

If not for Sasuke and Orochimaru, they would have more months to spare to invest in the youngling's training.

He wondered where the boy was. Moving to the entrance of the tent during a break.

Jiraiya heard giggles and laughter, a bunch of them in sync, a warning whistle for a poor soul.

Going out to take a peek, he found Miwara with four other women striding. But where?

As he observed from a distance, he noticed that their path led to a roc, spiky blonde hairs discernible over the top of them.

Jiraiya's smile widened. "Nice, so very nice. I knew that not losing faith in you would bring about excellent material, Naruto." He said, about to have his pencil and monocular in his hands… Before he could take another step in distant chase…

"Jiraiya-san!"

"Huh?" He muttered as he turned to whoever called for him.

"Could you please continue with your briefing? You were the one to claim it would last hours," Kaiyō mentioned, was the Sannin to forget his own words in such a brief span. The word tedious he also mentioned. Turning to Naruto's spot, Jiraiya cursed out his luck. Wish for his bright student to keep them entertained a bit longer, waiting for him to catch the good stuff.

Meanwhile, the blonde Uzumaki was doing his best to remain in the mentioned spot.

As he heard a group of voices approaching, recognizing Miwara's, he thought of that course of action to not be the wisest anymore. He heard over two distinct voices, not just Amazora's.

He stood up, ready to run.

Before taking a single step, Miwari was on his side with an arm around him, upwards, resting on his shoulders. Locking him. "Going somewhere, Naruto-kun?"

"No, just stretching my legs," He stuttered.

Getting swarmed by the village's young women was surely among many men's dreamlike scenarios. Not Naruto's as he watched them chant and smother him as they put a wreath on him, a similar blue one, just like Amazora's.

"Naruto! Congratulations!"

"We always knew you two would end up together."

"Why you two didn't tell us? You have to finish these rituals, if not bad luck can await the couple. Traditions ought to be respected."

"We could do it here in a second if you're shy about it."

Naruto looked at Amazora and wondered what they were talking about. Why were they forming in between them the longest human row possible with only four people?

Amazora walked in between them, rapidly being a step away. She was trying to reach for his hands with a blush on her face, almost not keeping eye contact.

Naruto continuously asked to know what the five women were talking about. He almost blacked out when they started speaking. Something about the wreath and it meaning his sovereignty, and a shared meal, they kinda lost him in that part… Until they said one word.

"Stop! Where are you going with this?" He asked fuming, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Well, Naruto, it's quite certain…" He heard whistling from afar. "You, sir, are a soon to be tied man," concluded the woman.

That didn't mean marriage, right?

Naruto's software lagged to where you could see in his eyes the circling as it tried to follow what was happening. To upload or simply play the new content. How had they passed from Naruto not noticing hints to marriage? It was inconceivable, right? Naruto didn't think so, rather didn't think, just reacted.

"Marriage?" This time he stuttered. He needed a minute just to pronounce the ominous word two times. This was way too sudden. "I… I… It cannot be. I just heard about that now!"

Suddenly Amazora brought their hands together and raised them as if they were praying intertwined. A tear following the side of her face. Naruto wished he had a whistle to ask for help. Seeing her in that state... "I thought when you embraced me you meant…" Her insecurity paving the way, calling for him to retract from any comment already made, to be careful if one was impending. To be tactful. "What is it? I don't please you?"

Amazora showcased herself for Naruto, physically and emotionally, pleading for an answer as her lips quivered. Her glassy eyes sparkled. His delayed response, breath, incited anger among the present.

"Naruto, you aren't about to sully or betray our trust after we welcomed you by being so unkind to Amazora here. The thread pending is brittle… To play with a woman's emotions that way. Have you no heart?" Asked Miwari with a frown.

Naruto started sweating, turning away from their incisive looks, death glares rather, to focus only on Amazora and her state. "But I didn't dance with you!" he said, remembering a part of the mentioned ritual.

"On top of that, you're gonna throw that in her face!" One shouted, infuriated by Naruto not following their traditions. As Amazora hides her face within the space of her close palms.

"No... I didn't mean it in a..." Suddenly he heard a laugh, a laugh that had been stifled as long as it could. Turning, he saw Miwari with a hand upon her mouth, hiding it. The contagious nature of it revealing everyone else's facade.

Naruto was about to have a heart attack. An entire lifetime had passed in front of him, the images printed in his every expression. "That was not funny, dattebayo!" Throwing away the wreath on his neck.

No one could argue with that. Perhaps because they weren't physically able to do it, as they couldn't utter a word, still belly laughing. Holding their chest in a bit of angst and ache after laughing so much.

It took them a while to get a hold of themselves.

And then they dared say, "now, seriously," to start whatever conversation Miwari had brought them for. 'The nerve...' Thought Naruto.

"It was too good. You had to see it from our end," Amazora said in between laughs. She was a terrifyingly excellent actress, those almost teary eyes from before tearing now, but from laughter, rather than sadness.

He had never thought of a prank that was that heart attack inducing. His were rookie-like in comparison. By saying that the mere fact of laying a wreath upon his shoulders meant a vow towards marriage itself, in a weird and uncanny cultural tradition, was so bonkers... They were surely delighted after the boy fell for something so mad.

Naruto's hands were shaking and all.

Amazora and Miwari each put a hand on his shoulders as Naruto frees himself from them and lays fully back, all this pent up adrenaline causing a stir in his stomach. His breathing was that of a marathon runner as he crossed the end line.

What would proceed that terror was not "The Talk", Naruto already had that with more details that he wanted to know. Furthermore, Jiraiya's books had graphical depictions of erogenous areas and physical attributes on a woman's body. Every spot.

There was sex involved in the discussion, but it wasn't the chief topic, no, it was a women's talk with an intruder, an enlightening endeavor to educate the fifteen, nearly sixteen years old, boy. Many topics on the menu.

"What is this about, Naruto? Are you keeping yourself for someone?" Asked Amazora almost in link with Miwari's mind. It was a weird matter.

"What? No!" Naruto confessed.

"I mean, it's like you were blinded. I still have hope that you can multitask, despite that you can't seem to look at any other woman coming to you with any intent. Like you're solely oriented in one place and can't look elsewhere at the same time. Does she have a name?" Asked Amazora, inciting other questions. Naruto's one was what was that intent.

He mostly saw the women that appeared in his life as friends or potential friends, in part for his desire for Sakura and their ubiquitous rejection of his presence, at least among his age group at first. Hinata being the exception, to which extent he didn't realize till much later. He even thought of them as family, Tsunade, Ayame and Shizune. Nothing wrong with that, right? He appreciated their physical features and all, but he didn't go beyond.

"Is this some weird teenager's thing or a continental thing?" Asked one of the group. In reprisal, Naruto didn't want to ask what younglings were like here around such topics, having found out little while present on the island.

"You aren't waiting for her to lose your virginity or hope that she doesn't till you two do it with each other?" One woman blurted out, all turning to her. "It's a weird wish, ain't it?"

"It's better if at least one of you has the experience, believe me." Another voice remarked.

"Only virgins or prudes make such a fuzz about sex. It's just sex. The more experienced the better," Just with that statement, Naruto answered a long time question of his that beforehand he thought he knew the answer to. Man, just how wrong was he. The question being if he could ever be more in unease than when talking with Ero-Sennin about sex and women? Yes, of course, of course he could. As presently demonstrated.

Amazora turns to the older women around her. "Who says I was about to sleep with him?"

"Weren't you?" "Wasn't that what you were striving for when you brought him here alone?" That was heard in the background.

Naruto was not as comfortable as he should be when talking about these things. He had matured little in comparison in this regard, and while not repressed, he wasn't on the other hill. So all this banter surrounding him, this relentless onslaught, was not making his day go faster, time slowing cripplingly.

Did he have "virgin" written all over his face or something? Was there such a difference between someone that had had sex and someone who did? To the point of being blatant. Because he blushed? Or stammer a bit, trying to elude the topic?

If there was one defining characteristic that defined these women, the Uzumaki women, was not being inhibited, in any sense.

"Sakura, her name is Sakura," he confessed just to stop these last remarks. A last-minute effort.

Their smirk reappearing.

"Well?"

"Well, what?" He didn't want to follow. This time his cluelessness was pretended.

"Tell us about her."

"I don't want to," Naruto simply put.

"Trust me, darling, you rather talk about this with us so you could know what you did wrong and so we can give you some pointers. We are women and fellow kunoichi after all," Miwari claimed. Naruto didn't doubt for a second that they could be way more insightful. That was not the point.

"Rather than hearing it from your sensei or someone else, all telling you the same thing," Naruto would like to face that last comment, Jiraiya may be many things, but when it came to Tsunade, he didn't fit all prejudices.

"All right! All right!" Naruto pleaded for a second, quoting Shikamaru's favorite word in his mind.

Naruto filled the blank spaces just like he had done with his sensei when he asked. Well, in this case, he had to go further since all was blank for the girls, since Jiraiya already knew about her, met her, and knew some sporadic things.

Having talked before with Miwari about this.

Let's state that it was a narrative in which Jiraiya or the others had no cohesion or a narrative thread. Naruto was doing his best to explain.

The questions that Naruto responded to on this occasion differed little from those back then. What of her did he like? Did he know her to truly like her that much? Was he merely in love with the oneiric image he had of her, rather than her true self? Which Miwari feared. Having not met her, those latter ones the women of the island couldn't speak about and debate with precision.

Those were the questions they wanted to find out about. Jiraiya did for sure hope that Naruto didn't resemble both him and his father and fell in love with a woman on the premise of her too having a certain type of character, quite the temper, a fire in them, let's say. A challenging, defiant to the core, ergo, not submissive, warrior and strong kind of woman. Jiraiya at the time wondered if he started the trend, Minato's parents weren't like that, they were milled, calm, and reserved, both of them; so it may fall on his shoulders the responsibility of the latter generation of Namikaze to have such likings.

By the time he ended his speech, having summarised much of their relation, the listeners prevailed baffled; the boy had an honest interest in her and he did… Yeah. Quite the light did Naruto's eyes cast.

Jiraiya didn't care that much to further indulge. Minato was quite the fool for Kushina, not saying this case was such, for Naruto's parents did obviously reciprocate each other's feelings prematurely.

The women around Naruto realized that this was something deep-rooted and important for Naruto. His desire for her wasn't a whim. They wondered as he spoke, Naruto having low self-esteem, being insecure, Miwari who knew him the best even added in her mind in need of being loved, which seemed in there obvious and to no fault of his own, if Naruto spoke of her jealously, her being but a possession.

It seems like it wasn't the case, not so far.

They ask him to get into detail, the more he shared what he knows the better, the more they could help him.

They lure him to share by telling him to think of this as any other training and to give it his all. Naruto followed along. They wanted him to speak of actions beyond the words, to see among what he recalled for some small instances that were important and that he missed on.

The result was fruitful, because while reminiscing, in his effort of being truthful and telling all there was, forgetting to leave himself in good light and just telling it as he recalled, there was an instance where he didn't seem to act, unknowingly, in a well-oriented way. They weren't searching for that instance, but there it was.

Showcasing the unhealthy aspects of "love" that most kids appear accustomed to doing.

"Care to tell us what you told her when you transform into the Teme, as you call him," Amazora asked, Naruto almost not recalling confessing that jump a bit, but without divisible guilt answered.

"I told her that her forehead was big and cute. That it made me wanna kiss it."

"I presume that her forehead is a touchy feeling for her?" Once again, asked Amazora, raising her eyebrows.

"No." Said Naruto before quickly adding, having in mind that he had to answer about her own feelings towards her forehead, nor his own towards it. "I mean for her, yes. Only because Ino and others make fun of it. I think is beautiful, you know."

'So it is an insecurity of hers,' Thought the group. Quite a big one, it seemed, if others picked on her in that aspect. When Naruto answered that it may be her biggest insecurity, they all looked at Naruto, awakening his questions in panic as they all try their best to not judge him too harshly. He was a kid, after all, back then. The fact was that he didn't realize how bad it was as an adult. One facepalmed.

"Oh, boy!"

"Naruto-kun!"

"What?" He asked.

"Oh, Naruto-kun! You seem to not realize what you did. Although the promise has forced you to grow out of that phase." Miwari spoke while using her hands to eloquently showcase needed complexity and precision to the matter. "Imagine this. One day, while you wait around, out of nowhere, comes Sakura. Looking at you in a manner she never had. Only for her to do something she normally doesn't. She sits next to you, inches apart, and tells you the most beautiful thing you have ever heard from her. You can't help but blush, be nervous, and at the same time peerless happy, all three emotions at the same time. Not only that, she talks to you and for the first time compliments you. Saying that you are a hero for holding the Kyubi, the subject that hurts you the most," It sounded ridiculous putting both things in the same ballpark but we all feel in different manners and we can suffer greatly about such insecurities, for vain they seemed to those who, in this case, were not her, they call it relativism. "While not comparable and close in no manner, it doesn't mean her insecurities and hardship don't have value, because they do. Continue to imagine. She closes the distance between you and her. Thanks you and approaches you in search of what ought to be a kiss. Only to leave before she does. Running with an ache in her stomach. You are left confused, content and with hope for more, a hope that you have pursued and you were nowhere near achieving before. The next moment you approach her she isn't giving you an opening to talk to her and instead she is focused only on Sasuke. When you talk to her, if you were to venture to it, she tells you you must have been dreaming and that she wouldn't do that, never. How would you feel?"

"I…. " Naruto could feel that his stomach ache, feeling what he had done and where this was going. He was so focused on that that he didn't cope to resent Miwari for sharing his insecurities about Kurama back then. He told that to her and only to her after months of opening to her during that first year. Something that he hadn't done with any other one of the island, on the world besides his godfather.

"Absolutely heartbroken, Naruto. Then you hold on to that moment as the sign you at least have an opportunity while you probably don't. You believe it to be a start point, yet she doesn't because she didn't experience it. Because in reality, it didn't happen. The moments after, every step of the way, you feel somewhat worthless and lastly sad. Then you realize that it was, I don't know. Nothing... You will be a step away from rage. Having your heart played with is not fun. Least when it's done through the prism and body of who you want and care for the most, for stupid and nonsensical as that emotion may be," Miwari ended, not scolding, for this truth didn't need a judging or angry tone. It was impactful on its own.

"I didn't know," Naruto answered, not shielding himself from responsibility, but lost.

"Well, now you do. You don't do that to the people you love, Naruto. Come to terms with the value that she will put into that phrase, being bullied by people and your crush complimenting it will mean the world for her. He means the world to her. I know you don't like that. But who is to say she is going to grow out of it. You didn't grow out of both of them. Next time, tell her with your face, not Sasuke's." Added Amazora. If she knew of him meaning the world to Sakura is because Naruto confessed to her that Sakura probably thought or felt so.

Miwari just knew of all this through Naruto's words, through his eyes.

They shortly after argued that if it wasn't best to not tell her anything. None could argue long in the defense of that premise.

"What do I do now?" Wondered Naruto when the question should be rather how.

"In your case, Naruto, would you wish you were told of it? Know that it didn't happen," Questioned Miwari with meaningful interest. Some people wouldn't mind living a lie and roll with it. Loathing whoever showed them the truth. "Yes." Said Naruto without a single doubt. As if a mirage was nothing more than that.

"Really?" Said one of the women surprised. She expected a reluctant answer where the boy could at least for a time live with it. But without thinking, he claimed to have no desire for such lies.

"Yes. I don't want to live a lie. Or with it." Answered Naruto.

"Well, there you go. You've got your answer. How to do it and when is up to you." Added Amazora.

"I'm not ready for her to truly hate me," Naruto said while looking ahead. He was reflexive and obviously feeling some shame and regret, among many things.

"I know that we're making it sound like it is the end of the world, but it is not. You were just wrong and young. If she can't move past it, then you ought to not give her a moment more of your time. If not for your emotional health for a practical sense." Amazora added, just adding something in the end, in case. "I'm not telling you to be mean or anything."

"Love is something complex, Naruto. We love in ways we don't know-how, and with an intensity, we sometimes are incapable of holding. We are bizarre beings. But in nowhere is it written your affection has to be given back. That is life. You don't need to be bad to her, forget her or nothing of shorts, but maybe the day comes when you have no other option than to look to other hands to place your heart in. Being nice to her is not a pact neither, a silent contract in which she has to date you in the future. It doesn't entitle you to nothing," Said Miwari, hating the nice guy theorem in practice. "You hope that she reciprocates in any shape or form, it may not happen. Come to terms with many things many people haven't. Realize that respecting and protecting someone are not the same thing." Her care being Naruto and not Sakura, Miwari provided a phrase for him to learn, to almost tattooed it. "But also now this, don't leave that precious heart on your in the hands of only one person or in the hands of those who have proven in majority to hurt you. Being selfish rather."

That Miwari added at the end after hearing Sakura called him, when she thought she was talking to Sasuke, an annoyance that took pleasure in getting in between his two team partners, that her sole desire was for Sasuke's acceptance. Until now much of Naruto's confession revolved around how exceptional the girl was, how she saved his life protecting him during the Chunin exams and pushing him out of the way of Zabuza's blade; besides the hits and how rude she punctually was, she had heard little else, nothing bad of her actions towards the boy. She would believe Naruto and his words, telling them that Sakura was not just a fangirl when they asked him. How far she had progressed as a shinobi and how smart she was.

Be it what it may but, did she deserve this boy's efforts? Initially, she didn't think so. Not when being abusive.

They all turn their focus on that. Telling the boy he didn't have to change to her likings in any shape, way, or form. He had to develop his emotional intelligence, though. If she thought his actions and words were just an interference, she didn't deserve an ounce of his time.

They emphasized being respectful above all.

Naruto would remain silent for a minute in between their banter, not progressing with his story and neither wishing for them to share their experience. He just remains quiet.

He knew he wasn't wise with Sakura. Never had he thought that he did something so ill-natured without it being ill-intentioned. He was just simply wrong. He was about to review his memories, hoping to haven't done something similar in other instances. Right now, looking at his repetitive wish on dating her was quite aggressive and bothersome. He expressed himself in the only way he knew how, and that way towards her seems to be obviously wrong.

Talk about a shock. He didn't know how to feel about all that. The matter of not having her real consent for that kiss either also pooped in his mind. Just how wrong could one action be? What an ass he proved to be that one time. Nothing endearing or romantic about that act.

"Have we bummed you out?" If Naruto had the will to answer to that and was capable of swift sarcasm, something either harsh or insulting would go the women's way inadvertently. As a reflex. Instead, he didn't answer. "You want time to think or you want me to tell you a history?"

He honestly wanted to be with his thoughts but didn't want to ask for it with everyone surrounding him. Later on, after much talk, when he foresaw calm, instead was forced towards having more "fun".

"Come on, Naruto. The night's light hasn't dwindled yet. We ought to cherish it. Why don't we have some fun," Amazora said as she grabbed a hold of him, wanting to leave this melancholic spot for the crowded middle of the town.

'The Uzumaki are restless, I'll tell you,' Naruto thought. Was he this intense?

Jiraiya saw the boy being dragged, almost could have bet that Naruto's gaze was searching for him. Upon catching him, pleading for an escape with his facial expressions and a hand movement that was Konoha's shinobi tactical signal to follow him. Probably somewhere in there was an implied rescue, but Jiraiya would not do such a thing.

He hadn't missed all the fun, apparently. Jiraiya smiled and followed along.

The night was young, and it gave Naruto plenty of time to put into practice his previous lessons in Uzushiogakure's dancing, which he didn't attend willingly. The few attempts he dared getting out of the middle, where all tangoed were responded with tugs that ought to be halfway in strength to an amputation effort.

He enjoyed the festivity. There was a point in the night where Jiraiya was pursued and couldn't elude a good punch. Naruto just wished he could have seen it fully, enjoy his sensei misfortune, rather than seeing a blur because of the pace at which they were dancing, spinning actually.

Upon Naruto's face printed a sense of release and comfort, till they all present moving figures got more aggressive as the night went on and they tossed him around like a dog toy.

Resigning himself to go at it anymore, he stated that he needed a break and that he wasn't about to be derailed from getting his ass on the floor. Next to Jiraiya's and Miwara's, the last of who wasn't that fond of dancing.

"Having fun?" Asked Miwari, lingering her words. When Naruto first meet her, she stopped a fire. That of the councilors venting at them, tensions rising. Months after, and he just saw her ignite them.

'I will get you back for this, I promise,' The prankster sworn on his name. "I need a break, datebbayo."

"Yeah, you do," Jiraiya agreed. He had to warn the boy. "We are leaving before noon, Naruto. We ought to be rested."

"Already?" Asked Naruto. He believed that they still had a week left. He didn't have the physical capacity to gesticulate any surprise. It was all in his voice. "It is already late, why didn't you tell me anything sooner."

When Naruto saw his sensei continuously smile rather than answer, he facepalmed.

"What?" Jiraiya uttered. "You seem like you were having fun, and I didn't want to stop you." Naruto could see Jiraiya's notebook open at his side.

Why ask?

They were supposed to arrive in a week in Konoha. Their two years and a half window for training near its closure.

With the toad's transportation network, they could be reverse summoned near Konoha almost instantly. They were in no need of any Hiraishi… Now that Naruto thought about it, the summoning justu had a teleportation factor to it… He didn't go further with that thought.

Back on topic. "Why the rush?" Asked Naruto. Miwari tossing him an akebi fruit, indigenous to the island.

"None actually," Jiraiya claimed. "They just asked for me and Tsunade indulged."

Indulged? Someone of power had to incite her hand for her to lend them the time of a Sannin. "Who?"

Jiraiya looked around. "The Daimyo," he stated. Naruto's demeanor didn't change that much, given that Jiraiya had just claimed that they were to meet the most important figure in the land. Where was the boy searching for A or B type missions? Protecting the land's ruler was not enough? "He demanded an audience in the village suddenly, so they're all rushing. He already has an elite crew guarding him. We're just there to add appeal to the masses," Jiraiya smirks, Naruto could imagine the Sanin planning a grand entrance.

"Is this the child-like capable daimyō that we're talking about?" Naruto asked rhetorically. Jiraiya hadn't painted the man in the best light, despite how fond the man seemed to be of Jiraiya. Asking for him to be Kage.

"The one and only. Believe me, if you only knew. I would have entrusted you the moment I meet you with that position if it was up to me and it undoubtedly needed to exist, rather than giving it to him," that told a lot of the man. Miwari hoped he was exaggerating. "The scattered forces surrounding that area at the border of Yugakure instead of coming to Konoha separately are assembling in a nearby noble castle to accompany his expedition and we are ordered to hop in. Just in case."

"Maybe we will meet up with some of my friends there. I miss them," Naruto confessed.

"I wouldn't know," Jiraiya confessed.

"Not a clue?"

"No."

* * *

"Tche! I could be near home right now, preparing myself a bath," complained a blonde-haired girl.

"Or going to the hot springs," responded another.

"I hear you, all better than be waiting here."

"Just wait for a little longer, Ino-san, Tenten-san. Just be patient," incited Iō. A very tall man with black eyes and brown hair covered by his forehead protector, which he wears in a bandanna-style. A Jonin of the village, a fellow medical ninjutsu user, like Ino.

Who while second in command, did much of the talking given the bizarre nature of who was in charge, who reserved his orders for punctual moments and not casual stuff. Shibi Aburame, Shino's father and the Aburame clan leader.

"There look!" Tenten said as he pointed at the meeting point. Another three teams gathered at the entry of the palace's massive courtyard. No one they recognized in sight. That was till… Looking up, she saw a familiar ANBU walking away, another one jumping at the rooftops… There ought to be teams of varied nature here, she presumed. "Food!"

Both Ino and Tenten shouted before becoming disappointed as they rushed, lunging, both thinking along the lines it was the least they could do given the detour they had taken to be here.

There was no food, just a mirage. They were hungry, that many days in missions and they're picky side and eyesight diminished, all right.

As they joined the rest, soon after a man appeared and granted them passage, they were invited to enter a major hall with food galore, Ino's and Tenten's prayers met, as the coincidentally assigned guardians of the daimyō couldn't be unhealthy and unfed before marching back to Konoha. Each team leader quickly hurried to meet with the daimyō's own men to strategize and distribute roles.

* * *

"My vision for this village's future rests upon this mission. Without it we can't progress no further and catch a breath from the drown of idealism and naivety of the current regime," the ominous voice proclaimed to everyone attentive and trained ears. Loyal ears. "Recall what we are once more, no trace of weakness allowed aboard as we take this crucial step for Konoha."

The response to his imperative claim didn't have to wait. From within the depths of Konohagakure could be heard the chanting of kneeling men.

"In Root, we have no name. We have no emotions. We have no past. We have no future. There is only the mission. That is the purpose of Root. The unseen ones who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth."

"For the tree to remain, some branches and being leaves cut is necessary when not imperative," the figure said as he disappeared into the darkness. "I will not tolerate failure. Go."

* * *

**Happy New Year.**


End file.
